ABSTRACT
HISTORY Transplantation of vascularized organs, such as the intestine, was first concep
tualized by Alexis Carrel at the turn of the century, who recognized the potential for such procedures with the establishment of a reliable method of performing vascular anastomoses.1 However, the feasibility of intestinal transplantation was not demonstrated until 1959 when Richard Lillihei, at the University of Minne sota, reported success in a canine model.2 This inspired the first human intestinal transplants, which were performed by Ralph Deterling in Boston in 1964 (unpub lished). The first reported human intestinal transplant was performed by Lillihei in 1967, and included the entire small bowel and right colon, with the superior mesenteric vessels being anastomosed to the left common iliac vessels.3 Unfortu nately, these and other early attempts which followed were uniformly unsuccessful.4
