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Transplant (surgery) facts for kids

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Organ transplant
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Reenactment of the first heart transplant, performed in South Africa
Specialty {{#statements:P1995}}
MeSH D016377
Transplant surgeon
Occupation
Names
  • Physician
  • Surgeon
Occupation type
Specialty
Activity sectors
Medicine, Surgery
Description
Education required
  • Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)
  • Doctor of Osteopathic medicine (D.O.)
  • Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S., MBChB)
Fields of
employment
Hospitals, Clinics
Podolay transplantacia srdca 1968
A heart transplant in 1968

An organ transplant is a special kind of surgery. It happens when a person needs a sick or damaged organ replaced. Doctors take a healthy organ from another person, called a donor. This new organ is then placed into the patient's body.

Most of the time, the healthy organ comes from someone who has recently passed away. However, some organs, like a kidney, or tissues, like bone marrow, can be donated by living people. This is done without causing much harm to the donor.

A big challenge with transplants is something called transplant rejection. This is when the patient's immune system sees the new organ as a foreign invader. It then tries to attack and destroy it. To stop this, doctors give patients special medicines. These drugs help to quiet down the immune system. The downside is that these medicines can also make the patient more likely to get other infections.

To make sure a transplant has the best chance of working, doctors do many tests. They check how well the donor's organ matches the patient's body. A good match helps to lower the risk of rejection.

Types of Organ Transplants

There are many different kinds of organ and tissue transplants. Each one helps people with specific health problems.

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See also

A robot friend In Spanish: Trasplante (medicina) para niños

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