Principles of liver allocation in Eurotransplant

Transplantation of organs has made enormous progress over the last 30 years. Technical developments in organ transplantations gave rise to questions of more moral and ethical nature [1], with the need for discussions about the determination of brain death, donor and recipient selection and allocation of these scarce resources. Immunological research contributed significantly to the successes of transplantation [2,3]. As already repeatedly reported during recent years, a growing need for liver transplantations exists now that this has become standard therapy for patients with end stage liver disease. Considering the fact that many patients die on the waiting list, it is of great importance that an efficient and rapid procedure for organ allocation is established [4,5].