[Experience with 100 liver transplant recipients at the Rabin Medical Center and the Schneider Children's Medical Center]

Harefuah. 2000 Sep;139(5-6):169-73, 248.
[Article in Hebrew]

Abstract

Liver transplantation is the treatment of choice for end-stage liver disease. During the past 8 years we performed 102 liver transplants in 84 adults and 16 children. In the adults, 9 were combined transplants: 1 a liver-pancreas transplant for type I diabetes, and 8 liver-kidney transplants. In the children, transplants included 5 whole-livers, 5 left-lateral liver segments from living-related donors, 4 reduced-grafts of right or left lobes, and 2 split left-lateral segments. At a mean follow-up of 31 months (range 1-96) 70 were alive, 3 had died during surgery and 15 during the first postoperative months. Mortality was due to primary graft non-function (7), sepsis (10), intracranial hemorrhage (1), tumors (4), recurrent hepatitis B (2), biliary strictures (2) and chronic rejection (1). The 1- and 4-year survival rates were 79.5% and 69.6%, respectively. After transplantation, 10 developed biliary stricture (5 corrected by balloon dilatation) and 8 anastomotic stricture (7 corrected by surgery), and there were 2 multiple intrahepatic strictures. There was hepatic artery thrombosis in 5, including 4 children. In 3, grafts were salvaged by thrombectomy and 2 others underwent re-transplantation. In those who survived transplantation by more than 1-month, recurrent hepatitis B was seen in 6 of 17 (35%) and recurrent hepatitis C in 12 of 19 (63%). Thus, results of our first 100 liver transplants are similar to those reported by larger centers, showing that in an appropriate setting good results can be achieved by small transplant programs.

Publication types

  • English Abstract
  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Child
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Israel
  • Liver Transplantation / mortality
  • Liver Transplantation / physiology
  • Liver Transplantation / statistics & numerical data*
  • Male
  • Postoperative Complications / classification
  • Postoperative Complications / epidemiology
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Survival Rate
  • Time Factors