Written By: Jessica Liao
introduction
For many years, human transplants have transformed the lives of countless individuals, offering a second chance at life and a path to recovery for those facing life-threatening diseases, damaged organs, or serious conditions. This remarkable discovery gave people with failing organs a sense of hope for a better life in the future.
What is human transplant?
A surgical procedure in which tissue or an organ is transferred from one area of a person's body to another area, or from one person (the donor) to another person (the recipient).
First successful organ transplant
In 1954, a team led by a young surgeon and Harvard Medical School professor named Joseph Murray performed the first successful organ transplant on Richard Herrick. He was only 23 years old when he got diagnosed with a kidney disease, which at that time was often a death sentence.
Fortunately, a group of dedicated doctors and scientists at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and Harvard Medical School were working on ways to transplant healthy kidneys into those whose organs had failed. Many people didn’t believe that it would work because severing and reattaching blood vessels just seemed merely impossible. However, at 11:15 am on December 23rd, they proved them wrong when they performed the world’s first successful organ transplant. This remarkable achievement gave individuals with failing organs a great amount of hope and saved multiple lives.
Types of transplants
organ transplantation
Auto islet cell transplant
After a person has their pancreas removed due to long-term (chronic) pancreatitis. The procedure takes insulin-producing cells from the pancreas and returns them to the person's body
Corneal transplant
Replaces damaged or diseased cornea
Heart transplant
For someone with congestive heart failure that has not responded to medical treatment
Kidney transplant
For someone with long-term (chronic) kidney failure. It may be done with a kidney-pancreas transplant
Liver transplant
For someone with liver disease that has led to liver failure
Lung transplant (may replace one or both lungs)
For someone with lung disease who has not gotten better using other medicines and therapies, and is expected to survive for less than 2 years
Intestinal transplant
For people with short bowel or short gut syndrome or advanced liver disease, or who must receive all nutrients through a feeding line
blood/bone marrow transplant
Autologous transplants (using your own blood cells or bone marrow)
Allogeneic transplants (use a donor’s blood cells or bone marrow)
Syngeneic allogeneic transplant (uses cells or bone marrow from the person's identical twin)
Types of donations
Living donation (type of organ donation)
When relatives, loved ones, friends or anonymous strangers serve as a living donor. This type of donation often receives the best quality organ much sooner.
Decreased donation
Deceased organ, eye or tissue donation is the process where an organ, eye or tissue is transplanted to another person at the time of the donor’s death.
Tissue donation
A medical process where tissue, such as heart valves, bone tissue, skin, ligaments, parts of the eye and pancreas tissue, is removed from a donor and transplanted into another person.
Pediatric donation
When there is a need for transplantation at a young age, the organ size is critical for it to be successful so small children most often receive donations from other young people.
Are there any risks?
Like every medical procedure, there are bound to have some risks; however, for most of the organ transplant recipients, the benefits outweigh the limitations. It will also depend on the organ a person receives and the condition of the person.
The risks include:
Organ rejection
Organ failure
Bleeding during the procedure
higher risk of infections and other illnesses due to anti-rejection or other transplant-related drugs
Conclusion
Human transplants represent a remarkable accomplishment of medical science. It is proven to save multiple lives and give people with life-threatening diseases a chance of living a better life. While there are risks associated with organ transplantation, such as organ rejection, failure, and potential complications, the benefits far outweigh the limitations for most recipients. These life-saving procedures have also evolved significantly since it was first discovered in 1954 by a team of young surgeons, due to research, advances in surgical techniques, and improved organ procurement and transplantation systems, thereby reducing associated risks.
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