how do partial transplants work? (Ex. Jimmy gives 70% of his liver to Susie, what does that 70% refer to? Is the organ left open? Do they cut off 70% and close it up?)

Question

how do partial transplants work? (Ex. Jimmy gives 70% of his liver to Susie, what does that 70% refer to? Is the organ left open? Do they cut off 70% and close it up?)

In: 2

Answer 1

In the case of a liver, yes, they literally cut off a chunk of a liver and transplant it. That’s because livers are amazingly regenerative.

But you can have othe partial transplants, like a lung, because lungs are subdivided into two or three sections, and one or two of those sections can be relatively safely removed. They do not regenerate, though.

Answer 2

The liver is special in that it grows in two parts called lobes.

You can take the smaller lobe and give it to someone else and keep the bigger half for yourself, and eventually it regrow.

I’ve never heard of any other organ getting a partial transplant. Maybe you could with intestines but then it would be cutting a section of mine out, stitching the two ends together, then giving you what we removed from me.