Parents of pediatric liver transplant recipients report lower health-related quality of life for their children two years after the surgery, compared to reports from the parents of healthy children. However, reports of family dysfunction fall within the normal range.

The University of Alberta Hospital (UAH) is one of only a few centers in Canada that perform living donor liver transplantation, a surgical procedure developed in the late 1980s that expands the organ donor pool. About 80 liver transplants are done a year in Alberta, 10 of those being living-donor.

Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is associated with severe bleeding and considerable transfusion requirements. There are several reasons for this severe bleeding in OLT. Hemostatic abnormalities remain a major cause.

One-year survival rates for patients receiving heart, liver and lung transplants at UCSF Medical Center exceed national averages at statistically significant levels, according to new data compiled by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR).

Liver transplant is a life saving treatment option for people with end-stage liver disease. Unfortunately, the need for donor livers far exceeds the supply. Each year only about one-third of people who need a donor liver will receive one, and some patients die while waiting.

Patients with high BMIs experience a significant survival benefit from liver transplantation and had similar rates of mortality after transplant compared to patients with normal BMI.

Almost all adult recipients who undergo LDLT develop liver cirrhosis with long-term portal hypertension. Portal hypertension results in vascular dilatation and collateral pathways.

Patients awaiting liver transplantation who also suffer from other medical problems may face poorer survival after transplantation. These comorbid problems, which include coronary disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), connective tissue disease and renal insufficiency, have been incorporated into a new modified comorbidity index which helps predict post-transplant survival.

Minority patients do not necessarily have worse outcomes after liver transplantation. When treated at the same medical centers as Caucasians, they fare just as well. These are the results of a new study in the November issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD).

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major health problem worldwide. Currently, the only chance for obtaining a cure in patients with HCC is by either a surgical resection or liver transplantation.

Patients who undergo liver transplantation at age 60 or above have 1-year and 5-year survival rates similar to those of younger patients and they experience fewer episodes of rejection. These findings are published in a new study in the October issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons.

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infects up to 500,000 people in the UK alone, many of the infections going undiagnosed. It is the single biggest cause of people requiring a liver transplant in Britain.