This new book, edited by internationally renowned specialists Jean-Michel Dubernard, Marwan Dawahra and Paul McMaster, also pools the experience of consultants from both Europe and the US. It is divided into three main sections: Organ Preservation, Organ Harvesting and Surgical Techniques. Many different organs are covered including heart, kidneys, lungs, pancreas, intestine and bowel. The various aspects of preservation are discussed including cooling, and preservation solutions, the composition of which are currently being actively explored. Longer term preservation of the heart is still an unsolved problem and this is considered, as well as the pros and cons of organ donation from live or cadaveric donors.

Fully referenced and illustrated with over 50 line drawings, Organ Preservation and Transplant Surgery will be of particular interest to those involved in the often complex surgery of organ harvesting or trainees in transplantation surgery. It gives clear accounts of the techniques involved and a detailed update in the underlying science that determines and currently limits organ storage. It will also prove invaluable to the younger researcher who needs a clearer understanding of the scientific basis of organ preservation and the clinical need for better organ preservation.

Transplanting hands -- a model of composite tissue grafting -- began in Lyons in November 1998 with the transplant of one hand and then, in January 2000, of two, both with the support of the Merieux Foundation. Advances in immunosuppression made possible some unusual transplants of tissue, such as bones, knee-joints, femurs and larynx. From these stemmed the first attempts to transplant hands. This book looks at the long-term results of reattaching hands that have been accidentally amputated. It reviews all the problems -- technical, immunological, nervous, functional and psychological -- that surgeons encountered during and after the transplants. Surgeons, transplant experts, immunologists, dermatologists, psychiatrists, neurophysiologists, physiotherapists and re-education experts will also find here answers to their ethical and legal questions about removing tissue from donors, as well as information about composite tissue grafts in plastic and reconstructive surgery.