RESUMO
There has been just over 30 years of experience in clinical intestine transplant. A rise in demand until 2007 with improving transplant outcomes preceded a subsequent fall in demand due, at least in part, to improvements in pretransplant care of patients with intestinal failure. Over the past 10 to 12 years, there has been no suggestion of an increase in demand and, particularly for adult transplant, there may be a continued trend toward fewer additions to the waiting list and fewer transplants, especially in those needing combined intestine-liver transplant. In addition, over the same period there has been no noticeable improvement in graft survival, with 1- and 5-year graft failure rates averaging 21.6% and 52.5%, respectively, for intestine-alone transplants and 28.6% and 47.2%, respectively, for combined intestine-liver allografts.