The number of patients requiring organ transplantations is exponentially increasing. New organs are either provided by healthy or deceased donors, or are grown in laboratories by tissue engineers. Post-surgical follow-up is vital for preventing any complications that can cause organ rejection. Physiological monitoring of a patient who receives newly transplanted organs is crucial. Many efforts are being made to enhance follow-up technologies for monitoring organ recipients, and point-of-care devices are beginning to emerge. Here, we describe the role of biosensors and nanosensors in improving organ transplantation efficiency, managing post-surgical follow-up and reducing overall costs. We provide an overview of the state-of-the-art biosensing technologies and offer some perspectives related to their further development.
Keywords: biosensing technology; organ transplantation; point-of-care medicine; therapeutic drug monitoring.