Liver Transplantation in Adults with Acute Liver Failure: A Single Center Experience over A Period of 15 Years.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Liver transplantation (LT) is an effective treatment modality for acute liver failure (ALF). However, no reports have examined a large number of patients who underwent adult living donor LT (LDLT) for ALF.

METHODOLOGY: Seventy-four adult patients who underwent LT including 72 LDLT in a single center over a period of 15 years were reviewed.

RESULTS

Of 74 cases, there were 17 cases with acute type ALF and 57 cases with subacute type of ALF. Etiologies of hepatitis were hepatitis B virus in 31 cases, drug exposure in 11 cases, autoimmune hepatitis in two cases, and unknown in 30 cases. Patient survival was 65%, 65%, and 61% at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively. The overall survival rates did not differ among patients divided by etiology of ALE (p = 0.693), type of ALE (p 0.745), ABD compatibility (p a, 0.912), total scores for predictive variables (p = 0.975), or graft-to-recipient weight ratio greater or less than 0.8% (p = 0.063). The most frequent cause of death within 1 month aftet LT was infection.

CONCLUSION

LT produces favorable outcomes in adult patients with ALE irrespective of etiology, type of ALE, or pre-transpiant liver conditions.