Experimentation in organ transplants compared with clinical trials: ethical problems

The origins of new techniques in transplant surgery vary widely. Frequently, new procedures are the result of small step-by-step departures from protocols already established in clinical practice; or they may be the result of radical innovation. Whatever their origin, experimental techniques in transplant surgery do not follow the route of randomised clinical trials; nor are they subject to the same procedures of review by an ethics committee. The present paper discusses some of the ethical implications of this situation.