Rejecting Defeat -- Scientist Triumphs After Setback In Kidney Transplant Method; Doctors Report on Organ Transplant Patients Who Didn't Need Lifelong Immune-Suppressing Drugs

By Miranda Hitti (WebMD Medical News) -- Jan. 24, 2008 -- New research shows that one day, some organ transplant patients may not have to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives. That's not the case today. When someone gets an organ transplant, they start taking drugs that suppress their immune system to avoid organ rejection -- and they stay on those drugs forever. But in today's edition of The New England Journal of Medicine, doctors report on five kidney transplant patients and one liver transplant patient who were exceptions to that rule. Read full articles below.