Grafting Health Dictionary

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Grafting: From 1 Different Sources

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.

Health Source: BMA Medical Dictionary
Author: The British Medical Association

Coronary Artery Vein Bypass Grafting (cavbg)

When coronary arteries, narrowed by disease, cannot supply the heart muscle with su?cient blood, the cardiac circulation may be improved by grafting a section of vein from the leg to bypass the obstruction. Around 10,000 people in the United Kingdom have this operation annually and the results are usually good. It is a major procedure that lasts several hours and requires the heart to be stopped temporarily, with blood circulation and oxygenation taken over by a HEART-LUNG MACHINE.... coronary artery vein bypass grafting (cavbg)

Skin-grafting

An operation in which large breaches of SKIN surface due to wounding, burns or ulceration are closed by TRANSPLANTATION of skin from other parts. There are three methods by which this is done. Most frequently the epidermis only is transplanted, using a method introduced by Reverdin and by Thiersch, and known by their names. For this purpose, a broad strip of epidermis is shaved o? the thigh or upper arm, after the part has been carefully sterilised, and is transferred bodily to the raw or ulcerated surface, or is cut into smaller strips and laid upon it. A second method is for small pieces of the skin in its whole thickness to be removed from the arm and thigh, or even from other people, and then implanted and bound upon the raw surface. (This method has the disadvantage that the true skin must contract at the spot from which the graft is taken, leaving an unsightly scar.) When very large areas require to be covered, a third method is commonly used. A large ?ap of skin, amply su?cient to cover the gap, is raised from a neighbouring or distant part of the body, in such a way that it remains attached along one margin, so that blood vessels can still enter and nourish it. It is then turned so as to cover the gap; or, if it be situated on a distant part, the two parts are brought together and ?xed in this position until the ?ap grows ?rmly to its new bed. The old connection of the ?ap is then severed, leaving it growing in its new place.

Researchers are having success in growing human skin in the laboratory for grafting on to people who have been badly burned and have insu?cient intact skin surface to provide an autologous graft (one provided by the recipient of the graft). Other techniques being researched are the use of specially treated shark skin and the production of arti?cial skin.... skin-grafting


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