Liver Transplantation
Hepatic or liver transplantation is a procedure where a diseased or injured liver is removed and replaced it with a healthy liver from another person, called a donor. If the liver is losing its working function it’s called a liver failure and a liver transplant can truly be a life savior (Expectations are at least at 50% survival rate for at least 5 years after the transplant with an acceptable quality of life)
Why is it needed?
Alcoholic liver disease (damage in the liver because of years of excessive drinking)
Liver Cancers (begin in the cells of the liver and not from another organ)
Nonalcoholic Fatty liver disease (too much fat is stored in the liver cells)
cirrhosis caused by chronic hepatitis C
Auto-immune diseases
Genetic disorders
Types of liver transplantation
There are three main ways a liver transplant can be carried out:
Deceased donor: the procedure is based on a liver that has been removed from a person who died recently. It’s not allowed for foreign patients.
Living donor: since live is a regenerative organ, a section of liver can be removed from a living donor, both the transplanted section and the remaining section of the donor’s liver are able to develop again to its past state.
Split donation: a liver is removed from a person who died recently and, as the name suggests, is split into two pieces where each is transplanted into a different person.
Crossmatch:
An important percentage of transplant patients are sensitized: having harmful antibodies which will attack foreign organisms including a transplanted organ from a living donor. These antibodies develop through a previous exposure to external tissue (similarly in cases of pregnancy, previous or blood transfusions.) The waiting period for sensitized patients is always longer since compatibility is a requirement.
Antibodies test is done through mixing the potential donor’s blood and the patient’s blood. This test is called a “crossmatch,” and shows how a recipient’s antibodies react with the potential donor’s ones.
Positive Crossmatch:
The recipient’s antibodies would attach the donor’s which means the organ transplant procedure is not possible in this case.
Negative Crossmatch:
The recipient’s antibodies do not attack the donor’s which means the organ is suitable for transplant.
Paired Liver transplant
Since donors must have a compatible blood type and liver anatomy that is suitable for donation.
Paired Liver transplant might be a convenient option for you if you want to donate part of your liver to someone you know, but you aren’t a good match for that person.
If you want to be a donor, but your blood types don’t match your receiver, your medical team can help you find two other people in a similar situation: one donor and one person who needs a new liver. The donor will have your receiver’s blood type, and the person who needs the new liver will have your blood type.
An interchange takes places according to blood types and solves the problem for both pairs.
Kidney Transplantation
Renal transplant or kidney transplant is procedure of placing a healthy kidney from a living or deceased donor into a person whose kidneys are diseased, damaged, or missing.
The main function of kidneys is to filter and remove waste, minerals and fluids from blood. Any disruption in this function would result accumulations inside the blood vessels which would in turn lead to elevated blood pressure and kidney failure in extreme cases.
Common causes for kidney failure:
Diabetes
Chronic high blood pressure
Inflammation and scarring of the tiny filters of the kidneys
PKD – Polycystic kidney disease
