Despite much research, there is no definitive answer on the success of organ transplantation in HIV-positive patients. According to the ECRI Institute, a nonprofit group, predicting future attitudes about HIV-positive transplantation is difficult because of organ shortages, procedure costs and attitudes of the medical community.
 
Some physicians see many HIV-positive patients as undeserving because infection is often thought of as the result of behavior that individuals can control. Others believe that it's entirely appropriate to consider HIV-positive patients for organ transplantation, according to one researcher. 
 
The transplantation community may get a clearer answer to this question as a large multicenter trial is now underway.

This article originally appeared in the August 2008 issue of Kidney Transplant Today.