A skin graft that is taken from another portion of the patient's own body is known as?

Appeared in: HPSSC - 2015

Explanation

An autograft involves transplanting tissue from one site to another on the same individual.
The term 'auto' is a prefix meaning 'self', which is a key clue to the definition.
Because the graft is from the patient's own body, it is not recognized as foreign by the immune system, eliminating the risk of rejection.
This makes autografting the preferred method for permanent skin replacement in cases like deep burns or traumatic skin loss.

Option B: A homograft (also known as an allograft) is a graft from a different individual of the same species, not from the patient's own body.
Option C: An allograft is synonymous with a homograft. It refers to a graft from a genetically non-identical donor of the same species.
Option D: A xenograft is a graft transplanted between two different species (e.g., from a pig to a human).

Clinical Relevance

Nursing practice connection: Use the key finding related to Types of Tissue Grafts to guide bedside assessment, documentation, and the next nursing action.
Understanding graft types is crucial for nurses in surgical and burn units for patient education, monitoring for rejection, and managing donor/graft sites.
Nurses must monitor autograft sites for signs of 'take' (vascularization), which appears as a pink, healthy color, versus signs of failure like necrosis or infection.
Donor site care is a key nursing responsibility. For split-thickness grafts, the donor site is a painful partial-thickness wound that requires appropriate dressings to promote healing and prevent infection.

How to Approach the Question

First, identify the key phrase in the question: 'taken from another portion of the patient's own body'.
Focus on the term 'patient's own body', which implies 'self'.
Analyze the prefixes of the options: 'Auto-' means self, 'Homo-' and 'Allo-' mean other/different (within the same species), and 'Xeno-' means foreign (from a different species).
Match the prefix 'Auto-' (self) with the question's description of a graft from the 'patient's own body'.
This direct link between the prefix and the definition leads to the correct answer, Autograft.

Concept Tested & Keywords

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E6 Pathology-Textbook of PATHOLOGYHarsh Mohan Part 1 (1-214) p. 149-151

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