Autotransplantation is the transplantation of

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

s, tissues, or even particular

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

s from one part of the body to another in the same person ('' auto-'' meaning "self" in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

). The autologous tissue (also called autogenous, autogeneic, or autogenic tissue) transplanted by such a procedure is called an autograft or autotransplant. It is contrasted with

allotransplantation Allotransplant (''allo-'' meaning "other" in Greek) is the transplantation of cells, tissues, or organs to a recipient from a genetically non-identical donor of the same species. The transplant is called an allograft, allogeneic transplant, ...

(from other individual of the same species), syngeneic transplantation (grafts transplanted between two genetically identical individuals of the same species) and

xenotransplantation Xenotransplantation (''xenos-'' from the Greek meaning "foreign" or strange), or heterologous transplant, is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another.hematopoietic stem cells Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are the stem cells that give rise to other blood cells. This process is called haematopoiesis. In vertebrates, the first definitive HSCs arise from the ventral endothelial wall of the embryonic aorta within the ...

, or skin, can be used for a wide variety of organs. One of the rare examples is autotransplantation of a kidney from one side of the body to the other. Kidney autotransplantation is used as a treatment for

nutcracker syndrome The nutcracker syndrome (NCS) results most commonly from the compression of the left renal vein (LRV) between the abdominal aorta (AA) and superior mesenteric artery (SMA), although other variants exist. The name derives from the fact that, in ...

Autologous blood donation

In blood banking terminology, autologous

blood donation A 'blood donation'' occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called fractionation (separation of whole blood components). A donation may be of wh ...

refers to a blood donation marked for use by the donor, typically for a scheduled surgery. (Generally, the notion of "donation" does not refer to giving to oneself, though in this context it has become somewhat acceptably idiomatic.) They are commonly called "autos" by blood bank personnel, and it is one major form of the more general concept of

autotransfusion Autotransfusion is a process wherein a person receives their own blood for a Blood transfusion, transfusion, instead of blood bank, banked allogenic (separate-Blood donor, donor) blood. There are two main kinds of autotransfusion: Blood can be Aut ...

(the other being intraoperative blood salvage). Some advantages of autologous blood donation are: * Blood type will always match, even with a rare

blood type A blood type (also known as a blood group) is based on the presence and absence of antibody, antibodies and Heredity, inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates, glycop ...

antibody An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as pathogenic bacteria, bacteria and viruses, includin ...

type. * If only autologous blood is used during surgery the risk of exposure to infectious disease such as

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

or HIV from blood is eliminated. * The risk of

allergic Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, are various conditions caused by hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic dermatitis, alle ...

reactions is reduced. The disadvantages are: * Higher cost due to individualized processing, record-keeping, and management. * In most cases, the blood is discarded if it is not used instead of being added to the general supply. * Blood donation prior to colorectal cancer surgery seemed causative for a worse overall and colorectal cancer specific survival. Autologous blood is not routinely tested for infectious diseases markers such as HIV antibodies. In the United States, autologous blood is tested only if it is collected in one place and shipped to another. There is also a risk that, in an emergency or if more blood is required than has been set aside in advance, the patient could still be exposed to donor blood instead of autologous blood. Autologous donation is also not suitable for patients who are medically unable to or advised not to give blood, such as

cardiac The heart is a muscular organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissu ...

patients or small

child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

ren and infants.

Bone autograft

In orthopaedic medicine, a

bone graft Bone grafting is a type of transplantation used to replace missing bone tissue or stimulate the healing of fractures. This surgical procedure is useful for repairing bone fractures that are extremely complex, pose a significant health risk to the ...

can be sourced from a patient's own bone in order to fill space and produce an osteogenic response in a bone defect. However, due to the donor-site morbidity associated with autograft, other methods such as bone

allograft Allotransplant (''allo-'' meaning "other" in Ancient Greek, Greek) is the Organ transplant, transplantation of cell (biology), cells, Biological tissue, tissues, or Organ (anatomy), organs to a recipient from a genetically non-identical donor of ...

and

bone morphogenetic protein Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are a group of growth factors also known as cytokines and as metabologens. Professor Marshall Urist and Professor Hari Reddi discovered their ability to induce the formation of bone and cartilage, BMPs are now ...

s and synthetic graft materials are often used as alternatives. Autografts have long been considered the "Gold Standard" in oral surgery and implant dentistry because it offered the best regeneration results. Lately, the introduction of morphogen-enhanced bone graft substitutes have shown similar success rates and quality of regeneration; however, their price is still very high.

Organ autotransplantation

Autotransplantation of selected organs is often preceded by ''ex vivo'' (also bench, back-table, or extracorporeal) surgery. For example, ''ex vivo'' liver resection and autotransplantation is used in the treatment of selected cases of conventionally unresectable hepatic tumors. It can also be implemented in rare scenarios of a blunt abdominal trauma. Kidney autotransplantation is a method of a nephron-sparing renal tumor excision or complex renal artery aneurysm management. The uses of ''ex vivo'' surgery followed by autotransplantation were reported also for heart, lungs and intestines, including multivisceral approaches. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), capable of differentiating into any cell type, have potential for solving the problem of donor organ shortage. Reprogramming technology would be used to obtain a personalized, patient-specific, cell product without problems related to histocompatibility of the transplanted tissues and organs. However, the ability to generate such tissues and organs will depend on successful strategies to overcome immunogenicity of the manipulated product.

Hematopoietic stem cell autotransplantation

Autologous stem-cell transplantation involves harvesting peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) by

apheresis Apheresis ( ἀφαίρεσις (''aphairesis'', "a taking away")) is a medical technology in which the blood of a person is passed through an apparatus that separates one particular constituent and returns the remainder to the circulation. ...

collection following mobilization of stem cells from the bone marrow into the peripheral blood. This is typically used for treatment of

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibody, antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone ...

or aggressive

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). The name typically refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlarged lymph node ...

. Stem cells are cryopreserved after collection for infusion after the patient undergoes high-dose

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

. Stem cell rescue permits the use of higher doses of chemotherapy than would be tolerated otherwise.

References

{{Authority control Transfusion medicine Orthopedic surgical procedures Transplantation medicine

Autologous blood donation

Bone autograft

Organ autotransplantation

Hematopoietic stem cell autotransplantation

See also

References