The Banff Classification is a schema for nomenclature and classification of kidney transplant

pathology Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in ...

, established in 1991 by

Kim Solez Kim Solez (born 1946) is an American pathologist and co-founder of the Banff Classification, the first standardized international classification for renal allograft biopsies. He is also the founder of the Banff Foundation for Allograft Pathology ...

and Lorraine C. Racusen in

Banff, Canada Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highest ...

. The initiative was "inspired by the then recent development of a consensus grading system for diagnosis of rejection in cardiac

allografts Allotransplant (''allo-'' meaning "other" in Greek) is the transplantation of cells, tissues, or organs to a recipient from a genetically non-identical donor of the same species. The transplant is called an allograft, allogeneic transplant, or ...

led by Dr

Margaret Billingham Margaret E. Billingham (née Macpherson) (September 20, 1930 - July 14, 2009) was a pathologist at Stanford University Medical Center, who made significant achievements in the early recognition and grading of transplant rejection following cardia ...

, a key participant at the first Banff transplant pathology meeting". Prior the Banff Classification there was no standardized, international classification for renal allograft

biopsies A biopsy is a medical test commonly performed by a surgeon, interventional radiologist, or an interventional cardiologist. The process involves extraction of sample cells or tissues for examination to determine the presence or extent of a diseas ...

, which resulted in considerable heterogeneity among pathologists in characterization of renal allograft biopsies. The first Banff schema was published in 1993, and has since undergone updates at regular intervals. The classification is expanded and updated every two years in meetings organized by the Banff Foundation for Allograft Pathology. An evaluation of the Banff Classification in March 2000 confirmed significant association between the revised Banff '97 classification and graft outcome. The classification is unusual in that there is no competing standard. It has been used worldwide for 28+ years and shows how useful consensus meetings in a medical subspecialty area can be. In 2018 a user guide for the classification was published in the journal Transplantation.

External links

* http://banfffoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/The-Banff-classification-revisited.pdf * https://journals.lww.com/transplantjournal/Fulltext/2017/10000/Kim_Solez,_Edmonton,_Alberta,_Canada_Banff___A.4.aspx * https://journals.lww.com/transplantjournal/fulltext/2018/11000/A_2018_Reference_Guide_to_the_Banff_Classification.14.aspx {{Pathology-stub Pathology Organ transplantation