Autograft Health Dictionary

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Autograft: From 1 Different Sources

n. a tissue graft taken from one part of the body and transferred to another part of the same individual. The repair of burns is often done by grafting on strips of skin taken from elsewhere on the body, usually the upper arm or thigh. Unlike *allografts, autografts are not rejected by the body’s immunity defences. See also skin graft; transplantation.
Health Source: Oxford | Concise Colour Medical Dictionary
Author: Jonathan Law, Elizabeth Martin

Corneal Graft

Also known as keratoplasty. If the cornea (see EYE) becomes damaged or diseased and vision is impaired, it can be removed and replaced by a corneal graft. The graft is taken from the cornea of a human donor. Some of the indications for corneal grafting include keratoconus (conicalshaped cornea), corneal dystrophies, severe corneal scarring following HERPES SIMPLEX, and alkali burns or other injury. Because the graft is a foreign protein, there is a danger that the recipient’s immune system may set up a reaction causing rejection of the graft. Rejection results in OEDEMA of the graft with subsequent poor vision. Once a corneal graft has been taken from a donor, it should be used as quickly as possible. Corneas can be stored for days in tissue-culture medium at low temperature. A small number of grafts are autografts in which a patient’s cornea is repositioned.

The Department of Health has drawn up a list of suitable eye-banks to which people can apply to bequeath their eyes, and an o?cial form is now available for the bequest of eyes. (See also DONORS; TRANSPLANTATION.)... corneal graft

Grafting

The process of transplanting healthy tissue from one part of the body to another (autografting), from one person to another (allografting), or from an animal to a person (xenografting).

Grafting is used to repair or replace diseased, damaged, or defective tissues or organs. The most common operations of this type are skin graft, bone graft, bone marrow transplant, corneal graft, kidney transplant, heart transplant, liver transplant, heart–lung transplant, heartvalve surgery, and microsurgery on blood vessels and nerves.

With autografting, the grafted tissue is usually assimilated well into the surrounding tissue at the new site.

The general risks of tissue rejection following other forms of grafting are discussed in transplant surgery.... grafting

Bone Graft

the use of bone or a bonelike synthetic substance to fill a bony defect or to augment bone formation. Bone grafts are usually *autografts or *allografts, but synthetic bone grafts, using calcium compounds and hydroxyapatite, are increasingly being used. Hard cortical bone can be used to replace structural defects, softer cancellous bone is used to fill voids or to encourage bony union, and synthetic bone grafts act as a scaffold through which normal bony healing can occur.... bone graft

Skin Graft

a portion of healthy skin cut from one area of the body and used to cover a part that has lost its skin, usually as a result of injury, burns, or operation. A skin graft is normally taken from another part of the body of the same patient (an *autograft), but occasionally skin may be grafted from one person to another as a temporary healing measure (an *allograft). The full thickness of skin may be taken for a graft (see flap) or the surgeon may use three-quarters thickness, thin sheets of skin (see split-skin graft), or a pinch skin graft. The type used depends on the condition and size of the damaged area. The skin graft may be free or attached by a *pedicle.... skin graft

Transplantation

n. the implantation of an organ or tissue (see graft) from one part of the body to another or from one person (the donor) to another (the recipient). Success for transplantation depends on the degree of compatibility between donor and graft: it is greatest for *autografts (self-grafts), less for *allografts (between individuals of the same species), and least for *xenografts (between different species; see xenotransplantation). Skin and bone grafting are examples of transplantation techniques in the same individual. A kidney transplant involves the grafting of a healthy kidney from a donor to replace the diseased kidney of the recipient: renal transplantation is the second commonest example of human transplant surgery using allografts (after corneal grafts – see keratoplasty). Bone-marrow, blood-stem-cell, heart, heart–lung, pancreatic, and liver transplants are also very successful. Patients have undergone laryngeal transplantation following *laryngectomy. Transplanting organs or tissues between individuals is a difficult procedure because the recipient’s immune system perceives the transplant as a foreign object and rejects it. Special treatment (e.g. with *immunosuppressant drugs) is needed to prevent transplant rejection, and the less common but equally devastating effects of an attack by the graft’s immune cells on the host.

Ethical questions arise over donated organs. If the donor is living, is the organ properly a *gift? If the donor has recently died, how has the death been judged and has *consent been given explicitly by the patient or surviving relatives (opting in) or is it assumed if the donor has not forbidden it (opting out)?... transplantation


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