What is chronic rejection? What is being done about it?
There are three general forms of rejection: hyperacute, acute, and chronic. “Hyperacute” rejection occurs within minutes of transplantation due to antibodies in the organ recipients blood stream that react with the new organ and result in organ failure within the first hours after transplantation. The kidney and heart are most susceptible to this problem, the liver is relatively resistant. Hyperacute rejection has not been sufficiently studied in pancreas or lung transplantation. Cross matches are done between a particular kidney and a potential recipient of that kidney to decrease the likelihood that hyperacute rejection will occur. “Acute” rejection generally occurs in the first 6 to 12 months after transplantation. Lymphocytes from the thymus (t-cells) are blamed for causing acute rejection. For most organs, the only way to show unequivocally that rejection is occurring is by biopsy of that organ. For practical reason, however, biopsies are not always done when acute rejection is su
