Small bowel transplantation.

Despite the medical advances in the management of intestinal failure, small bowel transplantation is the only therapeutic procedure that can predictably restore normal eating. With improved immune therapy and immune surveillance, survival rates are now very similar to those of renal and liver transplantation. Successful transplantation is associated with significant improvements in quality of life. In patients with “TPN failure” due to central vein thrombosis, recurrent life-threatening catheter-related septicemias, and cirrhotic liver failure, it is a life-saving therapy.