Spleen Transplantation

Spleen transplantation is the transfer of spleen tissue from one individual to another, an experimental procedure studied mainly for its potential to induce immune tolerance toward other transplanted organs rather than as a treatment for spleen loss itself. Researchers have shown a tolerogenic effect from spleen transplants in rodents and in miniature swine, but outcomes in the small number of human attempts have been mixed and the procedure remains experimental rather than established clinical practice. A related and more established technique, splenic autotransplantation, reimplants a patient's own spleen tissue after it has been removed; roughly 95 percent of reimplanted tissue regenerates and about 90 percent of patients regain normal blood-filtering function, with complications in about 4 percent of cases.