You Put What Where? The Advent of Autotransplantation

Normally when you go in for an organ transplant, you expect your organ to be taken out and replaced by someone else's organ right? Not if you are having an autotransplant done. An autotransplant, an uncommon and even more unheard of surgery, is a surgery in which your organ is taken out, modified somehow and replaced back into your body. Take your parathyroid for example. If your parathyroid becomes hyperplastic(large and swollen) it excretes too much parathyroid hormone (PTH) and must be removed. Excess levels of PTH increases the amount of calcium in your cells and can lead to kidney stones and bone fractures among other things. It is therefore necessary to have it removed. Normally your parathyroid gland would be to, through surgery remove only the swollen glands. However, this can be dangerous as there are many nerves surrounding the area. Instead, in an autotransplant, the parathyroid is completely removed then a healthy portion is reinserted...in your elbow. This avoids the complex surgical procedures around your neck. As useful as autotransplants are however, they are limited. Only endrocrine organs like your pancreas or your parathyroid can be used. Because these organs release hormones into the bloodstream it doesn't matter where you put them so long as they have access to the bloodstream. I found topic interesting because it ties into the creed that our generation is preaching: conservation. By reusing your own organs in a slightly different manner, we are decreasing the amount of organs that need to be donated and saving the precious donated organs for patients that cannot use the autotransplant method.

http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-02/you-want-put-what-where