ITALY

Surgical Transplants.  —At the meeting of the Ionic Society of Medicine and Surgery on Dec. 14, 1952, Prof. Paolo Buonsani, the president of the society, read a paper on surgical transplants. It is impossible to replace tissue in man with tissue that is biologically more active or differs greatly histologically. There is a defense reaction by the host tissue against the graft, even against tissues that do not differ greatly although they are more likely to "take." This immunogenic or allergic reaction dooms the graft to eventual replacement by the host's tissues. The incompatibility is less pronounced in autoplastic than in heteroplastic grafts.The ease with which an avascular transplant takes, as in the cornea and the cartilages, indicates the relative unimportance of the blood supply. In fact, when entire visceral organs are grafted by anastomosis, severe toxicosis of the host results from absorption of the products of decomposition.Considering