Vienna Clinical Transplantation Research
Our scientific work is focused on clinical transplantation of abdominal organs with strong pretensions towards translational research.
Outcome data after transplantation of abdominal organs has continuously improved during the last decades. Nevertheless transplant centers face the problem of rising numbers of patients on their waiting lists in contrast to quite stable numbers of available donor grafts. Several strategies have been proposed to overcome the issue of organ shortage.
One approach is expanding the donor pool. The use of extended criteria donors has been promoted recently, as several studies have shown acceptable long-term results with these organs. Matching the appropriate recipient for an extended criteria graft represents one of our actual scientific issues. For this aspect some of the traditional allocation principles need a new weighting, e.g. HLA-matching is neglected in the ET Senior Program kidney transplantation in favor of shorter cold ischemic time or extended criteria donor livers are offered as rescue allocation and do not underlie the MELD allocation.
On the other hand, follow-up and care of transplanted patients is an important topic for avoiding graft failure and the need of re-transplantation. We participate in studies using new immunosuppressive agents, especially in kidney transplantation and work on protocols for minimizing immunosuppression in liver transplantation.
Understanding of the pathophysiology of acute hepatic failure is mandatory for developing sufficient treatment strategies. The assessment of potential regeneration of the liver or indication for acute liver transplantation is one of the most demanding clinical decisions. With knowledge about the underlying mechanisms of acute liver failure we may develop sufficient support devices in the future.