Liver Main

Overview of Liver Transplant

When does a patient require a liver transplant?

Liver transplant is a treatment for patients diagnosed with Liver Cancer, acute liver failure or end-stage liver disease caused by conditions such as Viral Hepatitis, Cirrhosis or liver damage from alcohol or drug abuse.

Some indications for liver transplant are:

• Acute liver failure	• Chronic cholestatic liver diseases
• Liver malignancy	• Metabolic liver diseases biliary atresia
• Chronic non-cholestatic liver disease	• Others

Symptoms of liver failure

Unless the liver damage is fairly severe or advanced, diseases of the liver are often "silent" and patients may be unaware of any issues. Different liver diseases may affect some functions more than others, resulting in variability between patients.

Some symptoms include:

• Yellow discoloration of skin and urine (Jaundice)	• Fluid buildup in the abdomen, legs and lungs
• Easy bruising and bleeding, initially from the gums	• Increasing sensitivity with alcohol and drugs
• Massive bleeding from the gut	• Serious infections
• Drowsiness, forgetfulness, lack of concentration, confusion and coma

Clinical Transplant Data

Source: SingHealth Transplant Annual Report 2018
International Transplant Data refers to OPTN/SRTR 2018 Annual Data Report: Liver, NHS Blood and Transplant Annual Report 2017/2018: Liver Transplantation, Living donor liver transplantation in Europe HepatoBiliary Surg Nutr 2016;5(2):159-175

Eligibility of transplant

If your liver disease is progressive and liver transplantation may be the appropriate treatment, you will be referred to the Liver Transplant Team. Arrangements will be made for you to meet the Liver Specialist (Hepatologist) for an assessment.

A variety of tests will be carried out to confirm the diagnosis, assess the extent of your disease and gauge your suitability for liver transplantation. The assessment period may take up to 5-7 days in hospital.

Tags:

; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;