Grafting refers to a

surgical procedure Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

to move tissue from one site to another on the body, or from another creature, without bringing its own blood supply with it. Instead, a new blood supply grows in after it is placed. A similar technique where tissue is transferred with the blood supply intact is called a flap. In some instances, a graft can be an artificially manufactured device. Examples of this are a tube to carry blood flow across a defect or from an

artery An artery () is a blood vessel in humans and most other animals that takes oxygenated blood away from the heart in the systemic circulation to one or more parts of the body. Exceptions that carry deoxygenated blood are the pulmonary arteries in ...

to a vein for use in hemodialysis.

Classification

Autografts and isografts are usually not considered as

foreign Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

and, therefore, do not elicit rejection. Allografts and xenografts may be recognized as foreign by the recipient and rejected. * Autograft: graft taken from one part of the body of an individual and transplanted onto another site in the same individual, e.g., skin graft. * Isograft: graft taken from one individual and placed on another individual of the same genetic constitution, e.g., grafts between identical twins. *

Allograft Allotransplant (''allo-'' meaning "other" in Ancient Greek, Greek) is the Organ transplant, transplantation of cell (biology), cells, Biological tissue, tissues, or Organ (anatomy), organs to a recipient from a genetically non-identical donor of ...

: graft taken from one individual placed on a genetically non-identical member of the same species. * Xenograft: graft taken from one individual placed on an individual belonging to another species, e.g., animal to human.

Types of grafting

The term grafting is most commonly applied to skin grafting, however many tissues can be grafted:

skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different ...

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

nerve A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons). Nerves have historically been considered the basic units of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the Electrochemistry, electrochemical nerv ...

tendon A tendon or sinew is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue, dense fibrous connective tissue that connects skeletal muscle, muscle to bone. It sends the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system, while withstanding tensi ...

neurons A neuron (American English), neurone (British English), or nerve cell, is an membrane potential#Cell excitability, excitable cell (biology), cell that fires electric signals called action potentials across a neural network (biology), neural net ...

, blood vessels, fat, and

cornea The cornea is the transparency (optics), transparent front part of the eyeball which covers the Iris (anatomy), iris, pupil, and Anterior chamber of eyeball, anterior chamber. Along with the anterior chamber and Lens (anatomy), lens, the cornea ...

are tissues commonly grafted today.

Specific types include: * Skin grafting – often used to treat skin loss due to a

wound A wound is any disruption of or damage to living tissue, such as skin, mucous membranes, or organs. Wounds can either be the sudden result of direct trauma (mechanical, thermal, chemical), or can develop slowly over time due to underlying diseas ...

, burn,

infection An infection is the invasion of tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...

, or

surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions (e.g., trauma, disease, injury, malignancy), to alter bodily functions (e.g., malabsorption created by bariatric surgery s ...

. In the case of damaged skin, it is removed, and new skin is grafted in its place. Skin grafting can reduce the course of treatment and hospitalization needed, and can also improve function and appearance. There are two types of skin grafts: # Split-thickness skin grafts (the

epidermis The epidermis is the outermost of the three layers that comprise the skin, the inner layers being the dermis and Subcutaneous tissue, hypodermis. The epidermal layer provides a barrier to infection from environmental pathogens and regulates the ...

and part of the

dermis The dermis or corium is a layer of skin between the epidermis (skin), epidermis (with which it makes up the cutis (anatomy), cutis) and subcutaneous tissues, that primarily consists of dense irregular connective tissue and cushions the body from s ...

) # Full-thickness skin grafts (the epidermis and the entire thickness of the dermis) * Bone grafting – used in dental implants, as well as other instances. The bone may be autologous, typically harvested from the iliac crest of the

pelvis The pelvis (: pelves or pelvises) is the lower part of an Anatomy, anatomical Trunk (anatomy), trunk, between the human abdomen, abdomen and the thighs (sometimes also called pelvic region), together with its embedded skeleton (sometimes also c ...

, or banked bone/allograft. * Vascular grafting – the use of transplanted or prosthetic blood vessels in surgical procedures. * Ligament grafting repair – as with anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction or ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction. * Fat grafting – the process of harvesting adipose tissue through liposuction, processing/centrifugation and injection into

soft tissue Soft tissue connective tissue, connects and surrounds or supports internal organs and bones, and includes muscle, tendons, ligaments, Adipose tissue, fat, fibrous tissue, Lymphatic vessel, lymph and blood vessels, fasciae, and synovial membranes.� ...

for improving coverage, volume and contour, typically in the breast, buttock and face.

Indications

* Large amount of skin loss due to infections * Burns * Skin cancer surgery * Chronic connective tissue disease

Reasons for failure

* Hematoma development when the graft is placed over an active bleed * Infection * Seroma development * Shear force disrupting growth of new blood supply * Inappropriate bed for new blood supply to grow from, such as cartilage, tendons, or bone

References

{{Organ transplantation Implants (medicine) Surgery Transplantation medicine