Radiation of Small Intestines Reduces Rejection

A study has found that in small intestine transplant recipients whose donor organs were exposed to radiation just prior to transplantation, the incidence of rejection was almost zero. The study was presented by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh (PA, USA) at Transplant 2001, the joint scientific meeting of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the American Society of Transplantation, in Chicago.

The majority of small intestine transplant recipients experience at least one episode of rejection within the first month of transplantation. The new strategy involves exposing the donor intestine for a few minutes to a single low dose of irradiation, transplanting the organ, and then delivering donor bone marrow infusions. The radiation is designed to kill mature immune system cells saturating the small bowel of the donor, so that the donor organ is less likely to serve as a target for the recipient's immune system.

Rejection was observed in only one patient out of 13 in the study, reported Kareem Abu-Elmagd, M.D., associate professor of surgery and director of the Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant Center at the University of Pittsburgh. The donor bone marrow infusion enhances chimerism, believed to influence the long-term survival of the transplanted organ. Three of five patients in a control group, who received unconditioned small intestinal grafts and no donor bone marrow, had at least one serious episode of rejection.




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