Early detection is essential to successful reversal of acute rejection. For this reason, the transplant recipient carries a large responsibility for maintaining his or her health. Acute rejection is almost always reversible with special medication. Once successfully reversed, some patients never have trouble with acute rejection again, although some patient do have subsequent episodes. Most rejection episodes require admission to the hospital.
Acute rejection is rare beyond the first year of transplant.
In addition to the subjective symptoms of worsening organ function that the transplant recipient feels, there are indicators of organ rejection which the health care team can identify. Chronic rejection is different from acute rejection in that it is usually not reversible, but it is also a response of the patient's immune system. While attached to the organ, the antibodies alert the rest of the immune system to attack the organ slowly and continuously. Most people will have little or no chronic rejection. Some people have some chronic rejection, leaving their organ function less than perfect but still adequate.