Aspetti medico-legali dei trapianti d’organo in Italia

Abstract

In the last decade new immunosuppression strategies have been developed, with the introduction of new pharmacological agents that act on different stages of the cell cycle (including for example sirolimus and brequinar). Nevertheless, in transplantation management there are still many controversies concerning medicolegal aspects. This article examines the Italian normative on transplantation, underlining the debate about the meaning of the term “brain death” as a description of the clinical condition of patients’ status as living or dead.