transplantation

Transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ, tissue, or cells are removed from one organism and placed in a recipient organism, often to replace a damaged or missing function. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transported from a donor site to another location. Organs and tissues that are transplanted within the same person's body are called autografts. Transplants that are recently performed between two subjects of the same species are called allografts. Allografts can either be from a living or cadaveric source.

Organs that have been successfully transplanted include the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, intestine, thymus and uterus. Tissues include bones, tendons (both referred to as musculoskeletal grafts), corneae, skin, heart valves, nerves and veins. Worldwide, kidneys remain the most commonly transplanted organs, followed by liver and heart. Global analyses indicate that available transplants meet a minority of worldwide need, with the Transplant Observatory reporting substantial gaps between demand and supply and year-to-year increases in registered transplant activity in recent data releases. J. Hartwell Harrison performed the first organ removal for transplant in 1954 as part of the first kidney transplant. Corneae and musculoskeletal grafts are the most commonly transplanted tissues; these outnumber organ transplants by more than tenfold.