Graft rejection; Tissue/organ rejection

• The organ does not function properly
• General discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling
• Pain or swelling in the location of the organ (rare)
• Fever (rare)

The symptoms vary depending on the transplanted organ or tissue. For example, patients who reject a kidney may have less urine, and patients who reject a heart may have symptoms of heart failure.

The doctor will feel the area over and around the transplanted organ, which may feel tender to you (particularly with transplanted kidneys).

There are often signs that the organ isn't functioning properly. For example:

• Less urine output with kidney transplants
• Shortness of breath and less tolerance to exertion with heart transplants
• Yellow skin color and easy bleeding with liver transplants

A biopsy of the transplanted organ can confirm that it is being rejected. A routine biopsy is often performed to detect rejection early, before symptoms develop.

When organ rejection is suspected, one or more of the following tests may be performed prior to organ biopsy:

• Abdominal CT scan
• Chest x-ray
• Heart echocardiography
• Kidney arteriography
• Kidney ultrasound
• Lab tests of kidney or liver function

Images

Antibodies

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Transplant rejection Overview

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Transplant rejection Treatment

Review Date: 04/16/2009
Reviewed By: David A. Kaufman, MD, Section Chief, Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Bridgeport Hospital-Yale New Haven Health System, and Assistant Clinical Professor, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)