Co-operative Research on the Clinical Application of Liver Transplantation.

在西方国家，肝移植已被公认为治疗终末期肝病的最先进的治疗方法。相比之下，我国还没有进行脑死亡供体的肝移植。这项多中心研究的目的是调查与肝移植相关的各种医疗问题，并建立一个计算机化的受体登记系统，以便在日本开始成功的肝移植计划。调查的问题包括：1）根据我国肝病的特点，肝移植的适应证; 2）免疫抑制的基础研究; 3）研究肝脏受者的术前、术中和术后管理，4）肝脏保存和改进供体手术操作技术的基础研究，以及5）开发使用计算机的国家登记系统，作为国家肝脏移植网络系统的一部分。

In the western countries, liver transplantation has been accepted as a state-of-the-art therapy for end-stage liver diseases. In contrast, no liver transplantations from brain-dead donors have been performed yet in our country. The aim of this multi-center study is to investigate various medical problems related with liver transplantation and to establish a computed registration system of recipients, in order to start successful liver transplantation program in Japan.The problems investigated include: 1) indications of liver transplantation, based on the characteristics of the liver diseases in our country, 2) fundamental research on immunosuppression, 3) research on the pre-, intra-, and post-operative management of liver recipients, 4) fundamental research on liver preservation and refinement of operative techniques of the donor operation, and 5) development of a national registration system using a computer, as a part of national network system for liver transplantation.