Sentinel Skin

Sentinel Skin Grafts 

The observation that the abdominal wall transplanted skin could be seen to develop a rash when acute rejection was occurring led to the development of the sentinel skin flap. This is a skin bearing Vascularised Composite Allograft (VCA) from the same donor and transplanted simultaneously as the intestinal, pancreas or kidney pancreas transplants and used to monitor these transplants for acute rejection.
Research in the utility of these sentinel skin flaps for monitoring the unseen buried solid organ transplants is continuing, particularly trying to unravel the immunological mechanisms.

The Oxford Transplant Centre is the World’s biggest and busiest centre for VCA transplantation having performed over 60 of the World’s 300 reported cases. It is co-host to the NHSE funded UK hand transplant programme.

Henk Giele