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Blood vessels

Arteries carry oxygenated blood from the heart to the sites in the body where it is used: the organs and tissue. From there, veins transport the deoxygenated blood back to the heart, which then pumps the blood into the lungs where it is again enriched with oxygen.

Medical conditions that may lead to transplantation

Vessels can become narrower and blocked, for instance due to deposits in the vessel walls (arteriosclerosis), blood clot formation (thrombosis), infections or scarring. In some cases, vessel transplantations are performed. They can be used as a bypass or to reconstruct a damaged vessel. It may be that these transplantations have to be conducted as life-saving emergency surgery in the large vessels in the abdomen, in the neck and head area and in the chest (aorta).