The anatomic pathologist and solid organ transplantation

Pathologists continue to play important roles in the management of solid organ allografts. These organs experience the same diseases in the corresponding non-transplant organs, but the added context of immunosuppression and alloimmunity introduces several unique factors that the pathologist has to take into context while evaluating biopsies from this group of patients. This introduction to the current miniseries highlights these special considerations and discusses the factors that differentiate transplant biopsy from other scenarios, with a view to emphasizing their importance as they enhance the pathologist's ability to obtain and provide optimum information from allograft biopsies.