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Specialization: Transplantology
Liver transplantation – a surgical operation in which a defective organ that does not function properly is removed and replaced with a healthy one. For transplantation, a liver is taken from a donor – a deceased person, or a part of a healthy organ from a living person.
The operation is used to treat patients with severe complications caused by chronic liver pathologies. Sometimes a liver transplant is a treatment option for sudden liver failure.
With the current medical development, liver transplantation is the only way to treat liver failure, since a device completely performing the liver functions hasn’t been invented. Patients requiring surgical intervention mainly suffer from acute or chronic liver failure.
Decompensated liver disease signs and symptoms are:
Above are a number of negative influences leading to organ dysfunction.
Criteria for liver transplant are:
During the evaluation process, a person needs to go through certain tests to determine if he/she can be a donor. Preoperative period can take up to 2 weeks – blood tests, X-ray, CT scan, ECG, general organism examination with liver palpation, tissue comparison, etc.
After a liver transplant, the following problems may occur:
Transplant recipients are prescribed meds minimizing the immune response to keep the organ safe and prevent immunological attacks. If such therapy is absent, the immune system identifies the new organ as foreign defect, attacks it, and damages the transplanted liver.
Body’s rejection of new liver is asymptomatic. It can be detected through laboratory tests. Suspecting rejection, specialists prescribe a liver biopsy.
Separate processes provoking liver failure can have a negative impact on a new organ and destroy it. There are specific meds and strategies for prevention of new organ infection and damage.
It’s an unusual cancer type occurring in transplant recipients. It’s caused by the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
Many people have been exposed to EBV as children or teenagers. In such patients, EBV-associated PTLD occurs after liver transplants involving, as immunosuppression allows the virus to reactivate. Simultaneously, many children get liver transplants, even without exposure to EBV.
5-year survival rate after liver transplantation is 70-80% for patients older than 30 years and 80-85% for children. With the complete biological parameters coincidence of donor and recipient, and stable physical condition of patients, the operation is successful in 95%.