AJR 2004; 183:1275-1283.
Unsinn KM, Koenigsrainer A, Rieger M, Czermak BV, Ellemunter H, Margreiter R, Jaschke WR, Freund MC.
Intestinal transplantation is an alternative in patients with irreversible chronic intestinal failure in order to restore enteral absorption of ingested food and fluid. In adults, the most common cause of chronic intestinal failure results from extensive resection of the small bowel because of occlusion of the superior mesenteric vessels, inflammatory bowel disease, or abdominal trauma. In children, the causes of short-bowel syndrome are midgut volvulus, gastroschisis, intestinal atresia, and necrotizing enterocolitis. Intestinal failure infrequently results from permanent intestinal dysfunction despite normal intestinal length. This occurs more frequently in children and includes aganglionosis; malabsorption syndromes, particularly microvillus inclusion disease; and motility disorders, particularly intestinal pseudoobstruction [1].
Intestinal transplantation with cyclosporine-based immunosuppression started in the 1980s in North America [2] and Europe [3] and was followed by multivisceral transplantation [4, 5] and liver-intestinal transplantation [6].