Organ Transplants
The first successful organ transplant happened in 1954 with a kidney from one identical twin given to
the other. Since then, the area of organ transplantation has extended to many other organs such as the
heart, liver, lung, pancreas, and intestines.
Tissue transplants have been performed since the 1800s through blood transfusions but have now
extended into many other tissues including the cornea of the eye, skin tissue, bone, bone marrow,
tendons, and blood vessels.
Risks and Benefits to Transplants
As with any procedure, there are benefits and there are risks for both the donor and recipient. The
obvious benefit of the recipient is being alive. The benefit to the donor (or the family of a deceased
donor) is more psychological as they have the satisfaction of knowing the donated organ saved a life. As
medical research advances in this area of medicine, society as a whole can benefit from higher success
rates as well as the transplantation of even more organs and tissues.
The biggest risk of transplantation is rejection. When the recipient’s immune system identifies the
donated organ as a foreign object, it will try to kill it. This chance or rejection is reduced by using organs
that are as genetically similar as possible, though it is usually still not enough. Most patients are required
to take drugs called immunosuppressants to prevent the immune system from attacking the new tissue
or organ. Though this helps the body accept the transplant, a new risk will come from the weakened
immune system as it will be more vulnerable to infections and viruses.
Living Donor Organs
Some organs in the body are duplicated to make processes more efficient but are not completely
necessary for living. These organs include the lungs and the kidneys. A donor can give one lobe of their
lungs or one kidney and still be able to live a healthy life.
The liver has the unique ability to regenerate and so part of it can be donated as well. The part of the
liver in both the donor and the recipient will repair itself over time to form a complete liver once again.
The benefit to a living donor is that the wait time for the recipient is reduced. The donor is usually also a
relative of the recipient to help minimize the chance of rejection.
However, taking a living organ comes with risk to the donor. If a lung or kidney fails, a complete body
can use the backup to continue living. In the case of a donor, once the single organ fails, the donor is at a
loss.
Deceased Donor Organs
Most donated organs come from people that have already passed away. The decision to donate is
usually by the person when they are alive but family of the deceased can also give consent to donate
those organs.
Organ Transplants
When a potential donor dies, the organs are checked to ensure that they are healthy and undamaged.
The organ is then matched to the most appropriate recipient which include factors such as blood and
tissue types, the age and locations of the donor and recipient, and how long the recipient has been
waiting for a transplant.
Xenotransplantation
It is also possible to transplant body parts from one species to another. This process is called
xenotransplantation. One organ that has already been used is heart valves from pigs used to replace
damaged heart valves in humans. The biggest obstacle to xenotransplantation is rejection and so the
cells of the valve are killed through chemical treatment. They are no longer considered living tissue and
so rejection is reduced.
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