The surgical implantation of a donor liver into a patient with end-stage liver disease, whether it is caused by alcoholic cirrhosis, chronic cholestatic diseases, chronic or fulminant hepatitis, or toxic liver destruction. Immunosuppressive drugs (such as cyclosporine) must be taken after the procedure to prevent rejection of the grafted organ. With optimal care, about 75% of grafted livers remain functional after 1 yr. Patients with human immunodeficiency virus or uncontrolled systemic infections, metastatic cancer, active alcoholism, or other severe cardiac, pulmonary, or neurological illnesses are not candidates for the procedure. In the U.S. about 4000 liver transplants are performed annually.
Substituting a diseased liver with a healthy one obtained from a donor. In the majority of instances, the donor is a deceased individual. However, occasionally (such as when a liver transplant is conducted on a child), a portion of the liver can be contributed by a living relative of the patient.
Liver transplantation proves most effective in addressing advanced liver cirrhosis among individuals afflicted with chronic hepatitis or primary biliary cirrhosis. Individuals with primary liver cancer might be evaluated for a transplant if the tumor remains relatively small.
In this process, the liver, gallbladder, and segments of the interconnected blood and bile vessels are excised. Subsequently, the donor organs and blood vessels are linked to the recipient’s vessels.
Following the transplant, the recipient undergoes monitoring within an intensive care unit for several days and remains hospitalized for a duration of up to four weeks. Immunosuppressant medications, intended to avert rejection of the newly transplanted organ, are necessary to be taken for the rest of their life.