Renal transplantation between identical twins: A review

The experience of transplantation between identical twins, occurring primarily at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, is reviewed. The remarkable success of this human experiment beginning in 1954 and ending, at least for the present in our hospital, in 1976, has confirmed early hopes that clinical renal transplantation may be an extremely effective treatment for end‐stage renal failure. Based largely on this seminal experience, investigations into experimental aspects of transplantation immunology, autoimmunity, and the general host responses, as well as developments in the field of nephrology and overall care of patients with endstage renal disease, have burgeoned. Indeed, during recent years, transplantation of several organs including heart, heart‐lung, liver, and kidney have proven remarkably successful. As knowledge and application in this field continues to expand, increasing numbers of patients with organ failure can expect to return to relatively normal lives .