LAUSR

INTRODUCTION Organ transplantation in Iran started in 1967 with the first successful live donor kidney transplant performed at Namazi Hospital in Shiraz. Subsequently, transplantation progressed, although at a slow pace with only a handful of procedures done until mid-1970. Some patients who could afford the expenses went abroad, mainly to the United Kingdom, to receive living-related transplants; outcomes were usually poor. The Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the Iran-Iraq war halted further progress and only few attempted to move transplantation forward until the field received the attention it deserved in 1986 in Tehran and 1987 in Shiraz. The paid-donation model was initiated in Tehran in 1988 and gained acceptance by almost all kidney transplant centers in the country; the transplant center in Shiraz, at the same time, emphasized on deceased donation, although establishing a deceased donor transplantation program appeared as a Herculean task.