Transplantation of Abdominal Viscera-Reply

In Reply. —  The authors want to thank Drs Lantos and Kohrman for their interest in the article entitled "Splanchnic Transplantation" by Williams et al in the March 10 issue of JAMA. As we stated in the manuscript, this study was reviewed and approved by the institutional review board. In addition, the patient's family members were thoroughly apprised of the investigational nature of this procedure and the high-risk nature of the procedure, and they were totally aware of both the hopelessness of the patient's condition and the uncertainty of the proposed therapy.We, of course, agree that innovative, high-risk surgery such as this procedure must be explained to the family or to the patient in the clearest possible terms. A second obligation of the institution performing such research is to gain as much information as is possible from such a procedure. Information was obtained from these experimental procedures that could