# Looking for a medical term for a body part/appendage that is surgically attached to a foreign body **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 10, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-medical-term-for-a-body-part-appendage-that-is-surgically-attached-to-a-foreign-body/810336 "2018-03-10T14:15:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-medical-term-for-a-body-part-appendage-that-is-surgically-attached-to-a-foreign-body/810336/1 "2018-03-10T14:15:47Z")
Hi I’m looking for a medical term (if there is one) for a body part/appendage that is surgically attached to a different/ foreign body. So if someone undergoes a transplant of an appendage such as a leg or a heart transplant, is there a medical term for the foreign appendage or heart that is surgically attached/implanted in the foreign body? I look forward to your feedback > **[Hand and Arm Transplant | Johns Hopkins Reconstructive Transplant](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/transplant/programs/reconstructive-transplant/hand-arm-transplant.html)** > > Our reconstructive transplant surgeons at Johns Hopkins help patients who have suffered a hand and arm amputation or extreme loss of function due to injury or illness gain independence through hand/arm transplantation. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-medical-term-for-a-body-part-appendage-that-is-surgically-attached-to-a-foreign-body/810336/2 "2018-03-10T14:40:47Z")
Allograft if same species Xenograft if different species ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-medical-term-for-a-body-part-appendage-that-is-surgically-attached-to-a-foreign-body/810336/3 "2018-03-10T15:49:14Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Allograft if same species > Xenograft if different species Thanks Rieman. So Allograft/Xenograft would refer to the procedure. Which adjective (synonymous with foreign) would the medical profession typically use for the foreign organ, limb, tissue grafted onto a body? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-medical-term-for-a-body-part-appendage-that-is-surgically-attached-to-a-foreign-body/810336/4 "2018-03-10T16:07:25Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > Thanks Rieman. So Allograft/Xenograft would refer to the procedure. Which adjective (synonymous with foreign) would the medical profession typically use for the foreign organ, limb, tissue grafted onto a body? No, the procedure is transplantation (which can be prefixed allo- or xeno-). An allograft/xenograft is the tissue. You would say “rejection of the xenograft”, for example. With these nouns available to refer to the tissue, no adjective+X construction comes to mind really. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-medical-term-for-a-body-part-appendage-that-is-surgically-attached-to-a-foreign-body/810336/5 "2018-03-10T20:31:59Z")
If you want to be non-technical or slightly imprecise, you can say “donor organ” or “donated part”. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-medical-term-for-a-body-part-appendage-that-is-surgically-attached-to-a-foreign-body/810336/6 "2018-03-10T20:47:32Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > If you want to be non-technical or slightly imprecise, you can say “donor organ” or “donated part”. Or “transplanted organ” of course. But “the allotransplanted organ” sounds a bit odd to me, I think you’d tend to just say “the allograft” if you wanted to be clear about the allo- part. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2018, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-medical-term-for-a-body-part-appendage-that-is-surgically-attached-to-a-foreign-body/810336/7 "2018-03-10T23:35:45Z")
I usually take “foreign body” to mean “object that is somewhere it doesn’t belong” - as in “he has a foreign body in his eye” - meaning a piece of metal or something, not a Frenchman. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2018, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-medical-term-for-a-body-part-appendage-that-is-surgically-attached-to-a-foreign-body/810336/8 "2018-03-11T01:15:08Z")
I thought the question would be about when they attach one body part to another body part to heal or to grow extra tissue. For example, I used to hear about a distant cousin who had his hands injured in an automobile accident who had them sewn into his belly to heal. Is there a special term for that? (I ask, without googling.)