RESUMO
More than 1,000 kidney transplants were performed at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC) between 1981-2005. The majority were from living donors. The renal transplant program at KFSH&RC was fundamentally transformed in 2001 with the introduction of renal transplant physicians and the emphasis on multidisciplinary teamwork. This fundamental change has resulted in tripling of the size of the program and in expanding its scope of services to include high-risk patients (highly sensitized with a positive crossmatch). These achievements were coupled with excellent outcome data. The 5-year patient and graft survival rates for adult transplants performed during 2000-2005 were 97% and 94%, respectively, for 268 living donor transplants and 97% and 76%, respectively, for 73 deceased donor transplants. The kidney transplant program at KFSH&RC is now a leading center in the Region and it ranks among the leading kidney transplant centers in the world in terms of size, scope of services and outcomes.