transplantolog

Transplantology is a medical field focused on organ and tissue transplantation. A transplantologist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of patients who require transplantation, as well as the care of donors and recipients after transplantation. The field encompasses surgical procedures, immunology, organ procurement, donor evaluation, and long-term post-transplant care. In clinical teams, transplantologists often work with transplant surgeons, nephrologists, hepatologists, cardiologists, anesthesiologists, immunologists, and nurses.

Responsibilities include selecting suitable candidates for transplant, assessing living donors and deceased donors, coordinating organ allocation, executing transplant operations where applicable, and managing immunosuppressive therapy to prevent rejection. They monitor graft function, detect rejection and infections, adjust medications, and address cardiovascular, metabolic, and psychosocial aspects of post-transplant life. The scope covers solid organ transplants such as kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, pancreases, and intestines, as well as tissue transplants.

Training typically begins with medical school, followed by residency in general surgery or internal medicine, and a subspecialty fellowship in transplant surgery or transplant medicine. Certification and licensing requirements vary by country and may include board certification in surgery or internal medicine with a transplant subspecialty.

Ethics and policy are integral, addressing donor consent, fairness in organ allocation, donor safety, and the protection of living donors. Ongoing research in immunology, organ preservation, and immunosuppression aims to improve graft survival and patient quality of life.