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An organ transplant is the transplantation of an organ (or part of one) from one body to another, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or failing organ with a working one from the donor. Donors can be living, or cadaveric (dead). Blood transfusion and bone marrow transplants are special cases of a transplant where the transplanted part of the body is renewable; in other cases, the living organ donor either has another of the same organ (such as lungs or kidneys) or can donate part of an organ (such as split- liver, segmental pancreas and small intestine transplants).
Apart from brain-stem dead donors, who have formed the majority of cadaveric donors for the last twenty years, there is increasing use of non-heart beating donors to increase the potential pool of donors as demand for transplants continues to grow.
Organs and tissues that can currently be transplanted include:
- Liver (one of the most difficult)
- Kidney
- Pancreas
- Pancreatic islet cells
- Small intestine
- Lung
- Heart
- Corneas (the front clear part of the eye)
- Skin (a skin graftA skin graft is a section of skin that is removed from one area of the body and transplanted to an area that has been injured. They are often used in treatment or rehabilitation of people with: Extensive wounds Burns Areas of prior infection with extensiv)
- Blood vesselThe blood vessels are part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body. Types Arteries Aorta (the largest artery, carries blood out of the heart) Arterioles Capillaries (the smallest blood vessels) Venules Veins Venae cavs
- BoneFor other uses of the word "bone", see bone (disambiguation). Gray's illustration of a human femur, a typically recognized bone. Bone refers either to a hardened connective tissue or to one of the individual structures, or organs, into which it is formed,
- HandAlternate meanings: Hand (disambiguation A human left hand The hand ( med. manus) is a portion of the arm or anterior limb of a human or other primate, at where the appendage terminates. This part of the limb is especially used in grasping and holding.
The heart and lungs are sometimes transplanted together, in a heart-lung transplant. This operation is usually performed for cystic fibrosis as both lungs need to be replaced and it is a technically easier operation to replace the heart and lungs en bloc. As the recipient's native heart is usually healthy, this can then itself be transplanted into someone needing a heart transplant; this is called a domino transplant. That term is also used for a special form of liver transplant, in which the recipient suffers from familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy causing the liver to produce a (very slow) poison; their liver can be transplanted into an older patient who is likely to die from other causes before a problem arises. [1]
Most pancreas transplants are performed for diabetes mellitus with chronic renal failure due to diabetic nephropathy and are transplanted together with a kidney.
Hand transplant operations have been performed since 1998.
Transplants that are nearly feasible today include:
Organ transplants that can not be performed today include:
