Organ and tissue transplantation is a relatively new area of medical science. As technology has improved, doctors have begun to be able to transplant organs and tissues from donors to recipients. Organ and tissue transplant is necessary when an individual has suffered from a disease or an injury. In many cases, the disease has been cured or brought under control. However, the damage that the disease has done to organ and tissue samples means that the individual needs a transplant in order to survive.
HLA typing stands for Human Leukocyte Antigen typing. The HLA antigen is present on the surface of white blood cells. White blood cells form one of the key agents of the human immune system. There are various types given to different individuals. The HLA typing methods are used to determine whether an individual's body will accept or reject foreign tissue. The human body uses the HLA typing of the tissue to determine whether it is foreign tissue or not.
Transplant rejection is one of the most common causes for the failure of a transplant procedure. When the body rejects the transplanted organ or tissue, it may even begin to attack it. This attack leads to the area being damaged. The issue is that a rejection of tissue may cause further health complications, particularly if the rejected tissue is in an area of the body that is crucial. The rejection of heart and liver tissue will almost certainly lead to the death of an individual.
One of the HLA typing techniques used is a simple blood test. The blood is analyzed in a laboratory where the exact chromosome of the blood related to HLA typing is checked. The HLA typing results will be used to classify the blood type. Once this blood type has been classified, it will be clear whether the doctor can go ahead with the transplant procedure or not.
HLA typing and transplantation of tissues are very closely connected. The HLA typing test is extremely important when one considers a transplant procedure. Most transplant procedures do not go ahead if there is a failure in the matching of the HLA types. In many cases, the procedure of transplantation is quite dangerous for both patient and donor. Therefore, minimal risk is taken when attempting to transplant tissue or organ material. As far as a patient is concerned, the HLA typing test takes just a few seconds. Once the sample of blood has been collected, the patient can return to normal life until the HLA typing results are available.