Retransplants

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. The acts of transplanting an organ or tissue again into a recipient after a previous transplant; the organs or tissues involved in a secondary transplantation; surgical procedures wherein a graft or organ is implanted for a second or subsequent time
2. Procedures involving a second or further transplantation of organs or tissues after an initial graft; the organs or biological material subjected to these repeated grafts; the medical processes where a transplant is redone due to failure or rejection of the first
3. The process of performing transplant surgeries more than once on the same patient; the organs or tissues used in these repeated transplants; interventions aimed at restoring function by replacing a previously transplanted organ again

Etymology: "Retransplants" is the third-person singular present form of "retransplant", a verb meaning to transplant an organ or tissue again after an earlier transplant. The noun "retransplant" names the procedure itself, or the organ or tissue involved in it. The word is built from the prefix "re-", meaning "again", attached to "transplant", which comes from Latin "transplantare", literally "to plant across" or "to plant in another place", from "trans-" ("across") and "plantare" ("to plant", from "planta", a sprout or cutting). The prefix does the work here. "Transplant" in English was first used of moving plants, and it was only later extended to organs and tissues in surgery. Adding "re-" creates a compound with a transparent meaning: a transplant performed a second time. Medical writers needed such a term once repeat transplants became a clinical concern, and the word is a plain combination of two existing parts rather than a coinage with a notable inventor.

Synonyms: reimplants, replants