Transplantology

Transplantology is the branch of medicine that studies the transplantation of organs and tissues, as well as the prospects for creating artificial organs.

The basic terms A donor is the organism from which organs or tissues are taken for transplantation. A recipient is the organism into which they are transplanted. Transplantation itself is the operation of implanting or replacing missing or irreversibly damaged tissues or organs — kidney, heart, liver, lung, bone marrow, haematopoietic stem cells and others — with tissues or organs taken from another organism.

The types of transplantation Autotransplantation, or autologous transplantation, moves an organ or tissue within one person; the donor and recipient are the same individual. Skin moved from intact areas to burnt areas in severe burns is one example, as is autotransplantation of bone marrow or haematopoietic stem cells after high-dose chemotherapy in leukaemia and lymphoma.

Isotransplantation involves an identical twin, genetically and immunologically identical to the recipient. Such operations are rare.

Allotransplantation, or homotransplantation, involves a genetically non-identical human donor. This is the most commonly used type, and organs may come from relatives or from other donors.

Xenotransplantation is transplantation between species. Its application remains extremely limited.

When a transplant is needed A transplant is required when an organ or part of the body loses the capacity to perform its function. This may follow a congenital abnormality, a disease, a serious trauma or intoxication — liver transplantation after poisoning is one example. Burn victims frequently receive grafts of their own intact skin.

Procedures available

• Kidney transplantation
• Liver transplantation
• Bone marrow transplantation
• Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation
• Corneal transplantation
• Skin grafting
• Donor compatibility assessment
• Pre-transplant evaluation
• Post-transplant follow-up