이종이식의 의학윤리적 제문제*

The transplantation of animal tissue and organs (xenotransplantation) is touted as one of the future options for transplantation medicine. This technology implies many unsolved practical and ethical problems.

The article summarizes those issues in xenotransplantation which require international efforts with special emphasis on safety regulations to prevent the transfer of pathogens from source animals to humans.

The most important result is the call for international guidelines, norms for reporting and compatible information technology. Means of risk assessment, risk management and risk prevention are necessary as public health tools to reduce or eliminate the risk of infection.

These are questions raised by patient monitoring and the implementation of archives, for example, or the economic aspects of xenotransplantation and the question of who is to bear the costs for international initiatives and public health safety mechanisms.

The article discusses the medical and ethical problems involved in weighing chances and risks are classified and discussed. Additionally, parallels between the debate on handling HIV in the 1980 s and xenozooneses today point to possible scenarios for future debate.