The Outcome of Kidney Transplants
The outcome of a kidney transplant depends on a variety of variables. Depending on the donor's age and whether or not they were still alive when they made the donation, the transplants likewise have varying life periods. The success of a transplant procedure is crucial in order for the recipients to enjoy healthy lives moving forward.Causes of Organ Transplant Failures
There are others who experience organ transplant failures, despite the fact that many people have profited from kidney, lung, pancreatic, and many other types of organ transplants. Common causes of these failures include blood clotting, infections, and the recipient's body rejecting the foreign organs, among others. An elaboration of the critical factors for organ transplant failures forms the focus of this paper.Rejection of the New Organ
One of the factors that lead to failures of organ transplants is the rejection of the new organ by the recipient's body. In rejection, the donor's organ is perceived to be foreign, and the recipient's body attempts to reject it from the body (Steins, Higgins & Wild, 2008). The immune system plays a key role in the organ transplant failure resulting from rejection. According to Ingulli (2008), rejection of organs in the body of the recipients is an interplay involving both the innate and adaptive immune system besides the T-cells. Also called allograft rejection, the rejection process is dependent on the capability of the T cells to recognize the donor organ as a foreign body. The activation of the T-cells leads to a series of processes culminating in the failure of a transplant process. The rejection of the organ can take place acutely or chronically.Infections and Organ Transplant Failures
Another contributing factor to organ transplant failures is infections. Multiple infections have been implicated in the rejection of donor organs in patients. According to Caineli and Vento (2002), herpes virus infection has been found to be a contributing factor in the rejection of organs. Sepsis resulting from Listeria monocytogenes has also been found to a major factor in renal transplant failures. The involvement of infections in organ rejection can be explained by the impacts on the immune system. The various infections implicated in organ rejection cause cellular stimulation of the immune system. Such leads to a non-specific increment in the T-cell immunity. Through this effect, it can be argued that the infection causes organ transplant failure through the impacts on the immune system of the organ recipient. Cytomegalovirus seems to be the dominant culprit in most viral infections involved in the rejection of organs in the body.Impact of Blood Disorders
Stein, Higgins, and Wild (2008) blood disorders may also affect the success of a transplant either immediately or after some time. The most notable is the formation of blood clots in the major blood vessels supplying blood to the organs. For instance, the formation of blood clots in the renal artery may compromise the functioning of the kidneys. Also, the prescription of wrong dosage or failure by patients to take the immunosuppressant drugs leads to failure of drug transplants. Such is particularly due to the attack on the immune system of the body on the cells of the donor organ. In sum, many factors may lead to the failure of organ transplants.References
Ingulli, E. (2010). Mechanism of cellular rejection in transplantation. Pediatric Nephrology (Berlin, Germany), 25(1), 61-74. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-008-1020-x
Stein, A., Higgins, R., & Wild, J. (2008). Kidney transplants explained. London: Class.
Cainelli, F., & Vento, S. (2002). Infections and solid organ transplant rejection: a cause-and-effect relationship?. The Lancet infectious diseases, 2(9), 539-549.
