Autotransplantation

From ArticleWorld

Autotransplantation is a transplant operation that involves transplanting tissue from the same individual. Autotransplantation is often used because it does not involve the risk of rejection. Common operations involve skin grafts and a special type of blood reuse.

Indications

Autotransplantation is commonly used to replace tissue that has been damaged beyond repair. Skin grafts are the most common operations, where skin is prelevated from another part of the body, sometimes including the whole underlying muscles and blood vessels, and used somewhere else.

Autotransplant is sometimes used in more special clinical procedures, when blood is stored before an operation, treated, and then put back into the patient's circulatory system.

Autotransplants are often preferable to transplants of organs from donors, because the risk of rejection is nonexistent. The procedure is also quite easy in most cases, and the risk of severe complications due to a mistake in the procedure itself is almost zero.

Risks

The common risk in autotransplant operation is the one of the tissue not developing correctly. The circulatory system should expand spontaneously to the grafted tissue. If it doesn't, however, then the autotransplant must be repeated. Another risk is that of infection, but it can be prevented with an aggressive short or medium-term antibiotic treatment. However, most autotransplants are successful, and immunosuppressive treatment is seldom necessary.