What is an Organ Transplant?

Transplantation refers to a technique in which cells, tissues, or organs of an individual are surgically or otherwise introduced into a part of the body or another individual in order to replace the previously lost function. It is divided into cell, tissue and organ transplantation according to the introduced graft.

Basic Information

English name

organ transplantation

Visiting department

surgical

Multiple groups

Organ failure patients

In general, the indications for organ transplantation are mainly the failure of the organ to be transplanted, and the causes of the failure of the organ are different.

As organ transplant patients have organ dysfunction before surgery and severe surgical trauma, routine application of immunosuppressive drugs is required after surgery. Infectious complications and surgical technology-related complications are prone to occur early after surgery. In recent years, with the improvement of surgical technology and perioperative treatment, the incidence and mortality of early postoperative complications have decreased significantly.

Rejection is a lifelong issue in organ transplant patients. At present, immunosuppressive drugs are routinely used in clinical practice for prevention. Early postoperative period is the high incidence of rejection, often combined with the application of large doses of immunosuppressive drugs for prevention. With the extension of the time after transplantation, the risk of rejection gradually decreases, which can gradually reduce the degree of immunosuppression. Depending on the type of graft, there are also major differences in immunosuppressive regimens after transplantation. Among them, the incidence of rejection after liver transplantation is low and the degree is mild, so the dose of immunosuppressive drugs applied after surgery is also the smallest. For acute rejection, methods such as hormone shock and increasing the concentration of immunosuppressive drugs can be used for treatment. For chronic rejection, there is currently no effective reversal measures, mainly prevention.

Due to the long-term application of immunosuppressive drugs, recipients of organ transplants are susceptible to complications such as new tumors after transplantation, new diabetes after transplantation, hyperlipidemia, hyperuricemia, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Patients after transplantation need regular follow-up inspections in the clinic to detect and treat the above complications early.

The prognosis of different organ transplants is different, and the prognosis of liver transplant and kidney transplant patients is relatively good. Kidney transplantation has the most significant effect in organ transplantation, with patient survival rates exceeding 97%. Liver transplantation currently has a one-year survival rate of 80% to 90%, a five-year survival rate of 70% to 80%, and a maximum survival time of more than 30 years.