question: What happens to human organs and tissue when they are removed from a body during surgery?
comment: Assuming they're not being studied, they're disposed of as medical waste. Generally they'll be stored in what's essentially a special dumpster. A company that specializes in disposing of it will then come, collect it, transport it to a disposal facility, and then destroy it by incinerating it.
passages: This leaves the fetal cranium and skeleton with soft tissue to be removed. The thorax, pelvis, cranium, and each arm and leg are removed separately using surgical instruments. The fetal cranium will usually have to be crushed in order to be extracted. Use of ultrasound greatly facilitates this part of the procedure although it may be done safely without ultrasound guidance. In the absence of ultrasound, the tissue will be carefully inspected to ensure all fetal tissue is removed. It is important to recognize that this is the removal of dead tissue to protect the patient from bleeding and infection well after the fetus died instantly. The fetus is almost never dismembered alive.
   Section::::Preservation of the bodies and organs.
  
  The bodies are prevented from decay by means of plastination, a rubberization process patented in the 1970s by anatomist Gunther von Hagens. The essence of the process is the replacement of water and fatty material in the cells of the body first by acetone and then by plastics, such as silicone rubber, polyester or epoxy resin.
  
  Section::::Ethical concerns.
   "Surgical resection" specimens are obtained by the therapeutic surgical removal of an entire diseased area or organ (and occasionally multiple organs). These procedures are often intended as definitive surgical treatment of a disease in which the diagnosis is already known or strongly suspected. However, pathological analysis of these specimens is critically important in confirming the previous diagnosis, staging the extent of malignant disease, establishing whether or not the entire diseased area was removed (a process called "determination of the surgical margin", often using frozen section), identifying the presence of unsuspected concurrent diseases, and providing information for postoperative treatment, such as adjuvant chemotherapy in the case of cancer.
   The practice of surgical pathology allows for definitive diagnosis of disease (or lack thereof) in any case where tissue is surgically removed from a patient. This is usually performed by a combination of gross (i.e., macroscopic) and histologic (i.e., microscopic) examination of the tissue, and may involve evaluations of molecular properties of the tissue by immunohistochemistry or other laboratory tests.
  
  Section::::Specimens.
  
  There are two major types of specimens submitted for surgical pathology analysis: "biopsies" and "surgical resections."
   The patient is anesthetised. When the donor organs arrive, they are checked for fitness; if any organs show signs of damage, they are discarded and the operation cancelled. In order to avoid removal of recipient organs when donor organs are not viable, it is standard procedure that the patient is not operated on until the donor organs arrive and are judged suitable, despite the time delay this involves.
   There have been successful cases using argon-plasma coagulation. The object in question was a green apple wrapped in cellophane inside the rectum of a 44-year-old patient. The argon-beam coagulation shrunk the apple by more than 50%, enabling its removal. Previous extraction attempts using endoscopic tools failed due to the flat surface of the object.
  
  If the object is too far up, in the area of the "colon sigmoideum", and cannot be removed using one of the above methods, bed rest and sedation can cause the object to descend back into the rectum, where retrieval and extraction are easier.
   There are many different types of tools that have been left behind during a surgery. Common instruments are needles, knife blades, safety pins, scalpels, clamps, scissors, sponges, towels, and electrosurgical adapters. Also retained are tweezers, forceps, suction tips and tubes, scopes, ultrasound tissue disruptors, asepto bulbs, cryotomes and cutting laser guides, and measuring devices. The single most common left behind object is a sponge.
  
  Section::::Mistakes and consequences.:Frequency.
   After that procedure was successfully completed, the Defense Department awarded a $3.4 million grant to the hospital in December 2009 to fund five face transplants, according to Col. Janet Harris, director of the Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Research Program for the Army Medical Research and Material Command.
   Certain conditions such as necrosis can cause parts of the body such as limbs or internal organs to die without causing the death of the individual. In such cases the body parts are usually not given a funeral. Surgical removal of dead tissue is usually necessary to prevent gangrenous infection. Surgically removed body parts are typically disposed of as medical waste, unless they need to be preserved for cultural reasons, as described above.
  
  Conversely, donated organs or tissue may live on long after the death of an individual.
  
  Section::::Criminal disposal.
   They are broken down by various processes including hydrolysis (polyglycolic acid) and proteolytic enzymatic degradation. Depending on the material, the process can be from ten days to eight weeks. They are used in patients who cannot return for suture removal, or in internal body tissues. In both cases, they will hold the body tissues together long enough to allow healing, but will disintegrate so that they do not leave foreign material or require further procedures. Initially, there is a foreign body reaction to the material, which is transient. After complete resorption only connective tissue will remain. Occasionally, absorbable sutures can cause inflammation and be rejected by the body rather than absorbed.
   Most of the material that is removed in a primary commercial dressing is not disposed of, but is processed or sold individually. This includes some of the organs such as the liver, kidneys and even tongue. Other parts that may be sold for human consumption include chitterlings, tripe, brain, and feet, such as pig's trotters or chicken feet. In some countries, there is an excess supply of these internal organs versus the demand for them, so they will simply be used as a byproduct food. The bone is pulverized to make bone meal, and like much of trimmed material, is used for animal feed, such as dog food. These items are not counted toward the dressed weight, which is focused primarily on the more desirable meat tissues.
   While the precise details of surgery will depend on the exact type of transplant, there are many steps which are common to all of these procedures. Prior to operating on the recipient, the transplant surgeon inspects the donor lung(s) for signs of damage or disease. If the lung or lungs are approved, then the recipient is connected to an IV line and various monitoring equipment, including pulse oximetry. The patient will be given general anesthesia, and a machine will breathe for him or her.
   In 2006, "101 More Things Removed from the Human Body" was released. It features items that have been removed from people such as tree boughs, a 3/4" drill bit, a pipe, a knife, a swordfish, and a maggot. All persons featured in the program who had items removed from their body survived. This program also aired in the USA on the Discovery network's "The Learning Channel" in October 2007.
   Once donor preparation is accomplished, procurement can begin by utilizing the same standard techniques for all abdominal organ procurements. The team exposes the abdominal cavity and inserts two cannulae for the infusion of University of Wisconsin organ preservation solution into the aorta and inferior mesenteric vein. As the abdominal organs are cooled "in situ", the surrounding tissue is dissected so that they may be quickly extracted. In the next step, the aorta is cross-clamped, cutting off blood supply to the organs. Once blood and oxygen supply to an organ is cut off, organ death will approach swiftly unless steps are taken to preserve them until transplant. Organs are therefore fully drained of blood, flushed with cool preservation solution, and removed from the body. In an isolated intestinal transplant, the colon will be detached from the small intestine. The cecum and ascending colon are devascularized, while care is taken to preserve major vasculature in the ileum. The jejunum will be separated from the duodenum while preserving the vasculature of the jejunum, ileum, mesentery, and the pancreas. If healthy, the pancreas can oftentimes be retrieved as an additional isolated procurement. The intestinal allograft, when ready to be extracted, is attached by the mesenteric pedicle, where the vessels converge out of the intestinal system. This pedicle will be stapled closed, and can be separated from the body via a transverse cut to create a vascular cuff. The complete intestinal allograft can then be removed and wrapped in a surgical towel. The protocols for combined liver and multivisceral procurements are far more complicated and meticulous than isolated intestine alone.
   When testing and corresponding elimination are complete, the dura mater is closed, and fentanyl is given to bathe the sensory nerves directly. The other layers of tissue, muscle, fascia, and subcutaneous tissue are sewn. The skin is typically now closed with glue, but there are sometimes stitches to be removed from the back after 3 weeks. The surgery takes approximately 4 hours and typically involves one neurosurgeon, one anesthesiologist, and possibly an assortment of assisting physicians (as in the New York City September 2008 case). The patient then goes to the recovery room for 1–2 hours before being transferred to the intensive care unit overnight. Transfer from the ICU to a recovery room in the hospital is then done to enable direct post-surgical observation by the neurosurgeon and surgical team, but this usually lasts only about 3 days, during which the team performs range-of-motion tests that they record and compare to pre-surgery levels. After that short period, the patient, depending on circumstances and appropriateness, is either transferred to inpatient recovery or is linked to an intense outpatient exercise program and discharged from the hospital.
   Embalming autopsy cases differs from standard embalming because the nature of the "post mortem" examination irrevocably disrupts the circulatory system, due to the removal of the organs and viscera. In these cases, a six-point injection is made through the two iliac or femoral arteries, subclavian or axillary vessels, and common carotids, with the viscera treated separately with cavity fluid or a special embalming powder in a viscera bag. 
  
  Long-term preservation requires different techniques, such as using stronger preservatives and multiple injection sites to ensure thorough saturation of body tissues.
  
  Section::::For anatomy education.
   Studies have shown having a high body mass index increases risk. Boston researchers found that a one-point increase in BMI related to a higher risk by 10%. The researchers suggest that “they [surgeons] chalk it up to more room in a patient in which to lose things.”
  
  Section::::Retained Surgical Instruments and Unretrieved Device Fragments (UDF).
   At this stage the organs are exposed. Usually, the organs are removed in a systematic fashion. Making a decision as to what order the organs are to be removed will depend highly on the case in question. Organs can be removed in several ways: The first is the "en masse" technique of Letulle whereby all the organs are removed as one large mass. The second is the en bloc method of Ghon. The most popular in the UK is a modified version of this method, which is divided into four groups of organs. Although these are the two predominant evisceration techniques, in the UK variations on these are widespread.
   One method is described here: The pericardial sac is opened to view the heart. Blood for chemical analysis may be removed from the inferior vena cava or the pulmonary veins. Before removing the heart, the pulmonary artery is opened in order to search for a blood clot. The heart can then be removed by cutting the inferior vena cava, the pulmonary veins, the aorta and pulmonary artery, and the superior vena cava. This method leaves the aortic arch intact, which will make things easier for the embalmer. The left lung is then easily accessible and can be removed by cutting the bronchus, artery, and vein at the hilum. The right lung can then be similarly removed. The abdominal organs can be removed one by one after first examining their relationships and vessels.
   Other patients who received BTS-derived tissue and body parts include a Colorado woman who had to repeat her ACL replacement surgery after her first BTS tendon failed, an Ohio woman who developed syphilis after receiving a bone from BTS, and an Ohio man who developed both HIV and hepatitis C after receiving BTS bone implants in surgery.
   Abstract. Loss of abdominal wall substance is a major cause of incisional hernia formation. It 
  
  makes repair of this iatrogenic human ailment a difficult surgical problem. The abdominal 
  
  wall substance loss has compelled the world's surgical community dealing with this 
  
  Organogenesis by desired metaplasia of autogenous stem cells
  
  BG Matapurkar, A Bhargave… - Annals of the New …, 1998 - Wiley Online Library
  
  MATERIALS AND METHODS Seven Rhesus monkeys and 21 mongrel dogs were operated 
  
  on under general anaesthia (ketamine hydrochloride, 12 mg/kg, in monkeys, and sodium 
   After completion of surgery, the patient is transferred to the post anesthesia care unit and closely monitored. When the patient is judged to have recovered from the anesthesia, he/she is either transferred to a surgical ward elsewhere in the hospital or discharged home. During the post-operative period, the patient's general function is assessed, the outcome of the procedure is assessed, and the surgical site is checked for signs of infection. There are several risk factors associated with postoperative complications, such as immune deficiency and obesity. Obesity has long been considered a risk factor for adverse post-surgical outcomes. It has been linked to many disorders such as obesity hypoventilation syndrome, atelectasis and pulmonary embolism, adverse cardiovascular effects, and wound healing complications. If removable skin closures are used, they are removed after 7 to 10 days post-operatively, or after healing of the incision is well under way.
   Once suitable donor organs are present, the surgeon makes an incision starting above and finishing below the sternum, cutting all the way to the bone. The skin edges are retracted to expose the sternum. Using a bone saw, the sternum is cut down the middle. Rib spreaders are inserted in the cut, and spread the ribs to give access to the heart and lungs of the patient.
   The patient is connected to a heart-lung machine, which circulates and oxygenates blood. The surgeon removes the failing heart and lungs. Most surgeons endeavour to cut blood vessels as close as possible to the heart to leave room for trimming, especially if the donor heart is of a different size than the original organ.
   The implementations of organ harvesting and organ transplant may vary from each approved institution. As an example, the Singapore General Hospital Skin Bank may harvest skin from the dead donor within 15 hours of death. 0.025 cm to 0.046 cm of the outer layer of the skin – mostly from the hidden areas of the body, such as the back and thighs – is harvested using a special instrument called the dermatome, so that the donor may still have an open casket funeral.
  