Considering the long-term patient survival, quality of life, and pharmacoeconomical aspects, kidney transplantation is an optimal method for renal function replacement. due to a significant improvement in immunosuppressive therapy and pretransplant immune monitoring, there are a few immunologic barriers to kidney transplantation, particularly from a living donor. living donor kidney transplantation should be promoted, because it is associated with a better graft survival and few significant long-term adverse effects for the living donor. However, as majority of transplant candidates do not have living donors, deceased donor kidney transplantation is of greatest importance for success of any kidney transplant programme. according to the number of deceased donor kidney transplantations performed, croatia has reached the world highest kidney transplant rate per million population. 

Key words:
immunosuppression; kidney failure, chronic; kidney transplantation; organ transplantation