[Transplantation medicine in Norway through 50 years].

2006 marks the 50th anniversary of the first clinical organ transplantation performed in Norway and in the Nordic countries. In 1956, just two years after the first successful clinical renal transplantation had been performed between two monozygotic twins in Boston, USA; professor Leif Efskind and his team at Rikshospitalet transplanted a kidney from an unrelated donor to a patient in end stage renal disease. The patient lived for 30 days with his new kidney, which is quite impressive given the very insufficient immunosuppressive therapy available at that time. Norway has in many ways been an international forerunner in the field of transplantation. Some of the reasons behind the success are competent and enthusiastic pioneers who were active researchers within the field, early establishment of cooperation across specialities and hospitals all over the country and centralisation of this highly specialised form of medicine to one hospital.