What Are Three Common Concerns With Transplants?

Life span,rejection,matching are some of the major concerns

One common concern with transplants is "donor versus graft" reaction, in which the immune system of the organ recipient recognizes the transplanted organ as "foreign" and rejects and attacks the transplanted organ.  This can occur with any transplanted organ.

Another, related, concern with transplants is "graft versus host" reaction, in which the transplant material, itself, rejects and attacks the recipient.  This occurs most frequently in bone marrow transplants.  In this reaction, the donated bone marrow recognizes the tissue of the recipient's body as "foreign" and attacks it as if fighting off an infection.

A third concern in organ transplants is infection.  This is often the result of steps taken to prevent the occurrence of the above two types of reactions or of the steps taken to treat the reactions.  In either case, drugs are given to suppress the functioning of the recipient's immune system in order to minimize the probability of the recipient's body rejecting the transplanted material.  This same immune system is responsible for fighting off infections, but it is unable to do so because of the suppression.