With a long practice of organ transplantation, retransplantation has become a major goal in patients with long-term failure of their first transplant (chronic rejection, exhaustion of the transplant, recurrence of initial disease, etc.). In addition, retransplantation can be necessary in the initial period, due to severe acute rejection, non-functioning organ or surgical complication.
Immunological and non-immunological factors conditioning success of a second transplant are described in this volume, together with alternatives to retransplantation. It is hoped that, in the future, retransplants will be less frequent, as a result of improved prevention of transplant failure.