Allotransplantation can create a rejection process where the immune system of the recipient attacks the foreign donor organ or tissue and destroys it. The recipient may need to take immunosuppressive medication for the rest of their life to reduce the risk of rejection of the donated organ.
Possible Complications
Health problems that may result from transplant or transplant rejection include: Certain cancers (in some people who take strong immune-suppressing medicines for a long time) Infections (because the person's immune system is suppressed by taking immune-suppressing medicines)
The ethical and legal issues related to organ and tissue procurement and transplantation are often discussed in light of such principles as; 1) Autonomy, 2)Benevolence, 3) Non-maleficence, 4)Free and informed consent, 5) Respecting the dignity, integrity and equality of human beings, fairness, and the common good.
While transplanted organs can last the rest of your life, many don't. Some of the reasons may be beyond your control: low-grade inflammation from the transplant could wear on the organ, or a persisting disease or condition could do to the new organ what it did to the previous one.
While seemingly rare, It's not an unheard-of phenomenon. Some researchers believe it may be possible for donor organs to hold and even pass on the characteristics and experiences of its original owner onto the new recipient, via a process known as cellular memory.
The brain is the only organ in the human body that cannot be transplanted. The brain cannot be transplanted because the brain's nerve tissue does not heal after transplantation.
Organ and tissue transplant rejection statistics:
With these new medications, rejection rates are as low as 10-15 % of patients and one-year transplanted organ survival has improved to 95%. These days, rejection of tissue is uncommon. Read more organ and tissue donation FAQs here.
In the US, the three leading causes of death after transplantation are cardiovascular disease, malignancy, and infections. Cosio et al. reported that while cardiovascular mortality is higher in diabetics post-transplantation, cancer is the most common cause of death in non-diabetics (Figure 1A).
Infection: the risk of infection is increased after transplantation because the patient's immune system is weak. Infections can be serious and may be caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi or yeast. The risk of infections decreases as the immune system recovers.
Presumed Consent
With default to donation, no one's rights are taken away—voluntary altruism remains the moral foundation for making organs available, and, therefore, procuring organs is consistent with medical ethics.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that Organ transplants are in conformity with the moral law if the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good sought for the recipient.
The "dead-donor rule" requires patients to be declared dead before the removal of life-sustaining organs for transplantation. The concept of brain death was developed, in part, to allow patients with devastating neurologic injury to be declared dead before the occurrence of cardiopulmonary arrest.
The risk of infection is increased after a transplant because of immunosuppressive medicines. These medications keep your immune system from attacking the new organ, but they lower your body's ability to fight infections. It's important to take steps in your daily life to prevent infection.
In heart transplants, the rate of organ rejection and patient mortality are the highest, even though the transplants are monitored by regular biopsies. Specifically, some 40% of heart recipients experience some type of severe rejection within one year of their transplant.
It is common for transplant recipients to resume a more normal lifestyle, including sexual activity, as they recover.
The kidney transplant is placed in the front (anterior) part of the lower abdomen, in the pelvis. The original kidneys are not usually removed unless they are causing severe problems such as uncontrollable high blood pressure, frequent kidney infections, or are greatly enlarged.
Acute rejection happens when your body's immune system treats the new organ like a foreign object and attacks it. We treat this by reducing your immune system's response with medication. Chronic rejection can become a long-term problem. Complex conditions can make rejection difficult to treat.
Kidney transplantation surgery is relatively noninvasive with the organ being placed on the inguinal fossa without the need to breech the peritoneal cavity. If all goes smoothly, the kidney recipient can expect to be discharged from the hospital in excellent condition after five days.
An average of nearly 20 of them dies each day while waiting. The kidney is the most commonly transplanted organ.
According to contemporary thinking, a full brain transfer from one living individual (Body Recipient, R) to another (Body Donor, D), a.k.a. cerebrosomatic anastomosis, is unachievable. Possible immune rejection if BT is carried out on a heterologous body rather than R's clone.
Transplanted Organs Don't Last Forever
Meanwhile, a liver will function for five years or more in 75 percent of recipients. After a heart transplant, the median survival rate of the organ is 12.5 years. A transplanted pancreas keeps working for around 11 years when combined with a kidney transplant.