Transplants

Organ transplantation is a total or partial replacement of a diseased organ or tissue with a healthy one, from one body (donor) to another (receiver).

Organs that can be transplanted:

-heart

-kidneys

-eyes

-liver

-lungs

-intestine

-tissues (bones, tendons, cornea, skin, heart valves, and veins).

BRAIN cannot be transplanted!

1905: First successful cornea transplant by Eduard Zirm (Czech Republic)

1954: First successful kidney transplant by Joseph Murray (Boston, U.S.A.)

1967: First successful liver transplant by Thomas Starzl (Denver, U.S.A.)

1967: First successful heart transplant by Christian Barnard (Cape Town, South Africa)

1998: First successful hand transplant (France)

2005: First successful partial face transplant (France)

2008: First baby born from transplanted ovary.

2010: First full facial transplant (July 26, 2010 in Barcelona, Spain.)

Autograft = a transplant of tissue to the same person

Allograft = a transplant of an organ or tissue between two genetically non-identical members of the same species

Isograft = a subset of allografts in which organs or tissues are transplanted from a donor to a genetically identical recipient (identical twin)

Xenograft = a transplant of organs or tissue from one species to another

Split transplant = an organ may be divided between two recipients, especially an adult and a child

Domino transplant = an operation which replaces two different organs at the same time.