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Liver Transplant

Nov 19, 2022 admin No Comment 147 Views

The human liver, the largest internal organ, is one of the most vital organs that performs more than 500 functions in your body. Some of these functions include the storage of minerals and vitamins, preventing infections, controlling immune responses, blood filtering, drug metabolization, and bile production. All these functions are affected or hampered when the liver becomes damaged or develops a severe disease.

If a liver fails due to severe damage, a liver transplant is the only successful treatment for improving your chances of survival. But is liver transplant successful? Yes, and it has a high success rate, which offers positive hope to patients with liver disease.

What is a liver failure?

Liver failure occurs when your liver is not working adequately to perform its functions. It is a life-threatening emergency requiring immediate medical attention. Many diseases and conditions cause liver failure, including Hepatitis B and C, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, heart stroke, alcohol abuse, cirrhosis, hemochromatosis, autoimmune disease, and cancer.

What are the symptoms of liver failure?

Liver failure can take years to develop (chronic liver failure), or it can fail suddenly (acute liver failure). The following are the symptoms of chronic and acute liver failure. 
Signs and Symptoms of Chronic Liver Failure
  1. Nausea
  2. Fatigue
  3. Diarrhoea
  4. Loss of appetite
  5. Blood in vomit
  6. Blood in stool
  7. Jaundice
  8. Confusion
  9. Fluid buildup in arms, legs, and abdomen
Signs and Symptoms of Acute Liver Failure
  1. Bleeding
  2. Loss of appetite
  3. Malaise (general feeling of being unwell)
  4. Movement problems
  5. Breath with a musty or sweet odour
  6. Confusion or forgetfulness
  7. Jaundice

What is a liver transplant?

Many patients wonder it is liver transplant possible when their liver is damaged and can’t be cured with medications. The short answer is yes, a liver transplant is possible.

A liver transplant involves surgically removing the diseased or failed liver and replacing it with a healthy donor. A healthy liver can come from a living or deceased donor. Living donor liver transplantation is an alternative to a deceased donor liver transplantation. It is possible because the liver regenerates itself soon after a portion of it is removed. The chances of surviving a liver transplant are pretty high. The types of liver transplants are:

  1. Living donor liver transplantation: The procedure replaces a diseased or damaged liver with a portion of a healthy liver from a living donor.
  2. Deceased donor liver transplantation: It is also known as cadaver liver transplantation. It involves removing a healthy liver from a recently deceased person and transplanting it into a patient with a damaged liver.

Who needs a liver transplant?

You may require a liver transplant if you have any of the following conditions:
  1. Alcoholic cirrhosis (alcohol-induced liver disease)
  2. Primary biliary cirrhosis
  3. Liver cancers, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, hilar cholangiocarcinoma, and hepatoblastomas
  4. Chronic infections like hepatitis B or C
  5. Thrombosis (blood clots in veins or arteries)
  6. Metabolic disorders related to liver failure like Wilson’s disease
  7. Biliary atresia (a congenital disability that blocks the bile ducts)

Factors affecting liver transplant survival rates

Although the liver transplant success rate and the life expectancy after liver transplant worldwide are high, the liver transplant survival rate depends on several factors, such as:

  1. Age: Older people have a low long-term survival rate.
  2. Body Mass Index (BMI): People who are overweight have a low chance of long-term survival.
  3. Cause of liver failure: Liver failure caused by genetic conditions has a higher success rate than liver failure caused by infections or lifestyle choices.
  4. The overall health of the person before surgery
  5. The severity of the liver failure and the organs involved
  6. Other diseases such as Hepatitis B, primary biliary cirrhosis, Budd-Chiari syndrome, etc.
  7. Medical history of the patients

Rejection rates after liver transplant

Rejection happens when your immune system considers the new liver a foreign object and starts attacking it. It occurs in 25 to 50% of all liver transplant patients, with the risk highest in the first six months after transplantation (acute rejection). Rejection after six months (chronic rejection) occurs in 5% or less of all liver transplant recipients.

 

Life after liver transplant

Patients with successful liver transplants can lead healthy lives. The younger the patient, the faster their recovery. Children can return to school and participate in everyday activities within two months of the procedure. While younger people may be able to return to work and normal life within six to eight weeks, older people may need a month or more. 

The recovery rate after a liver transplant also depends on your health and condition before the surgery. If you were severely ill or nutritionally deficient before the surgery, recovery might take four weeks longer. Moreover, liver transplant recipients require lifetime medications and monitoring to avoid the risk of infections and rejections. 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the immediate success rate of liver transplantation?

Liver transplantation is a highly successful treatment. Its in-hospital success rate is more than 95% at well-equipped liver transplant centres in the world.

What is the long-term success rate of a liver transplant, and how does it differ from the immediate success rate?

The long-term success rate of a liver transplant is also very high. While the immediate success rate is as high as 95%, people can expect a 65 to 70% chance of survival even 15 to 20 years after the surgery. 

What is the chance/probability of rejection of the transplanted liver after surgery?

Rejection occurs when your immune system attacks the new liver. It happens in 25 to 50% of transplant patients within six months of surgery. After six months, the rejection rate is 5% or less.

Success rate of a liver transplant depends on what factors?

Although the success rate of liver transplant is extremely high, it can vary from patient to patient depending on several factors, which include:

  1. Age
  2. BMI
  3. Cause of liver failure
  4. The severity of the liver failure
  5. Medical history
  6. Overall health before the procedure
  7. Other medical conditions

Is the rejection rate in living donor liver transplants different from cadaveric liver transplants?

Acute rejection is common following the liver transplant process. The incidence of rejection does not differ between living donor liver transplants and cadaveric liver transplants. 

What is the longest liver transplant survivor life expectancy?

As the life expectancy after liver transplant is pretty high, the longest survivor is known to survive for 40 years after a successful liver transplant. 

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