Familiarity with early transplant complications

Transplant surgery is one of the major surgeries, so early complications after transplantation are relatively common.

Fortunately, many of these side effects can be treated quickly. We refer here only to the early complications that are common to all transplants, regardless of the type of organ transplant.

An important part of these complications is due to the extent of surgery and the effects of anti-transplant drugs.

With the advancement of surgery and postoperative care, mortality from transplant surgery has greatly decreased. But complications from surgery are not uncommon.

In transplant surgery, the transplanted organ must be connected to the circulatory system and other organs in the body. Sometimes these connections themselves will be associated with complications. Each transplant must be attached to one of the body’s arteries or veins. These vascular connections can sometimes be accompanied by bleeding or narrowing of the joint. Bleeding from the vascular junction usually requires reoperation and repair.

Stenosis at the junction of vascular joints usually develops a few months after transplantation with organ dysfunction. Sometimes these stenoses require reoperation, but today many of these stenoses can be treated with interventional and vascular radiology procedures. With these methods, the bottleneck can be opened.

The junction of the kidneys to the bladder, liver to the bile ducts, or lungs to the trachea may also leak or narrow. Fortunately, these cases can also be treated well with non-surgical and non-invasive methods.

Another common complication after transplantation is infection. It should be noted that post-transplant infections are common due to the weakening of the immune system due to the administration of anti-transplant drugs. These infections are often abnormal infections that occur when the immune system is weakened. Therefore, in addition to bacterial infections, viral and fungal infections should also be considered. These infections may be in the blood, lungs, urine, spinal cord, or brain. The cooperation of infectious disease physicians with the transplant team is very important in the rapid diagnosis and timely treatment of these infections.

Transplant patients do not necessarily show good signs of infection due to a weakened immune system, so clinical suspicion of prompt diagnosis is very important. Infections in these patients progress rapidly due to weakened immune systems and require prompt diagnosis and treatment.

Another early complication is graft rejection. Fortunately, the rate of acute transplant rejection has greatly decreased due to the use of powerful anti-transplant drugs. Fortunately, many cases of acute transplant rejection are well treated today.

Rejection of the transplant may be asymptomatic and show only with laboratory abnormalities related to the function of the organ. Detection of transplant rejection requires sampling of the transplanted organ.

Clinical suspicion, rapid diagnosis by biopsy, and initiation of treatment are factors in the success of acute transplant rejection.

Another early complication after transplant rejection is drug side effects, especially side effects of anti-transplant drugs.

Keep in mind that patients take a lot of drugs after transplantation that sometimes have drug interactions, so it is very important that an experienced pharmaceutical team works with the transplant team.

Common side effects of anti-rejection drugs include headache, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, seizures, diarrhea, mood disorders, and impaired surgical incision repair.

Of course, each transplant is associated with its own complications depending on the type of transplant member.

Dr. Reza Saidi Firoozabadi – Transplant surgeon