A liver transplant is a surgical procedure that removes a liver that no longer functions properly (liver failure) and replaces it with a healthy liver from a living or deceased donor.

Your liver is your largest internal organ and performs several critical functions, including:

Removing bacteria and toxins from the blood

Preventing infection and regulating immune responses

Processing nutrients, medications and hormones

Producing bile, which helps the body absorb fats, cholesterol and fat-soluble vitamins

Making proteins that help the blood clot

Liver transplant is usually reserved as a treatment option for people who have significant complications due to end-stage chronic liver disease. In rare cases, sudden failure of a previously normal liver may occur.

The number of people waiting for a liver transplant greatly exceeds the number of available deceased-donor livers.

The human liver regenerates and returns to its normal size shortly after surgical removal of part of the organ. This makes living-donor liver transplant an alternative to waiting for a deceased-donor liver to become available.

Liver transplant is a treatment option for people with liver failure whose condition can't be controlled other with treatments and for some people with liver cancer.

Liver failure may happen quickly or over a longer period of time. Liver failure that occurs quickly, in a matter of weeks, is called acute liver failure (fulminant hepatic failure) and is usually the result of medication-induced liver injury.

Although a liver transplant may treat acute liver failure, it is more often used to treat chronic liver failure. Chronic liver failure occurs slowly over months and years.

Chronic liver failure may be caused by a variety of conditions. The most common cause of chronic liver failure is scarring of the liver (cirrhosis), a process in which scar tissue replaces normal liver tissue and impairs liver function. Cirrhosis is the most frequently cited reason for a liver transplant.

Major causes of cirrhosis leading to liver failure and liver transplant include:

Hepatitis B and C.

Alcoholic liver disease.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

Genetic diseases affecting the liver (including hemochromatosis and Wilson's disease).

Diseases that affect the bile ducts (the tubes that carry bile away from the liver), such as primary biliary cirrhosis, primary sclerosing cholangitis and biliary atresia. Biliary atresia is the most common reason for liver transplant among children.

Complications of the procedure

Liver transplant surgery carries a risk of significant complications. There are risks associated with the procedure itself as well as with the drugs necessary to prevent rejection of the donor liver after the transplant.

Risks associated with the procedure include:

Bile duct complications, including bile duct leaks or shrinking of the bile ducts

Bleeding

Blood clots

Failure of donated liver

Infection

Rejection of donated liver

Mental confusion or seizures

Long-term complications may also include recurrence of liver disease in the transplanted liver.

After a liver transplant

After your liver transplant, you can expect to:

Possibly stay in the intensive care unit for a few days. Doctors and nurses will monitor your condition to watch for signs of complications. They'll also test your liver function frequently for signs that your new liver is working.

Spend 5 to 10 days in the hospital. Once you're stable, you're taken to a transplant recovery area to continue recuperating.

Have frequent checkups as you continue recovering at home. Your transplant team designs a checkup schedule for you. You may undergo blood tests a few times each week at first and then less often over time.

Take medications for the rest of your life. You'll take a number of medications after your liver transplant, many for the rest of your life. Drugs called immunosuppressants help keep your immune system from attacking your new liver. Other drugs help reduce the risk of other complications after your transplant.

Expect six months or more recovery time before you'll feel fully healed after your liver transplant surgery. You may be able to resume normal activities or go back to work a few months after surgery. How long it takes you to recover may depend on how ill you were before your liver transplant.

Survival rates after liver transplant

Your chances of a successful liver transplant and long-term survival depend on your particular situation.

In general, about 70 percent of people who undergo liver transplant live for at least five years. That means that for every 100 people who receive a liver transplant for any reason, about 70 will live for five years and 30 will die within five years.

People who receive a liver from a living donor often have better short-term survival rates than those who receive a deceased-donor liver. But comparing long-term results is difficult because people who have a living donor usually have a shorter wait for a transplant and aren't as sick as those who receive a deceased-donor liver.

Survival rates among liver transplant recipients also vary among U.S. transplant centers and can be found online at the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.

WHN offers you successful and trustworthy treatment options. We manage all the procedures for you at the most affordable cost while serving you with highly successful doctors in the world-standard hospitals.