liver transplant questions

CHATSDALE · Jun 16, 2005

that questions has too many varables to answer with any kind of time frame..depends on i had a friend who was on list for two years..

my dtr has hc and interferon has not worked...she is not on list at this time but she is trying to get on a trial somewhere...siblings have offered a portion of liver but she feels like she is doing ok right now and doesn't want to go that route if at all possible..she knows people she worked with who had problems with rejection

i am a cancer survivor so i can't volunteer .

if your friend is likely to abuse drugs again then the new liver might be even more prone to failure . i don't know if this is so or not

i know it is gross to say this but they might feel like if she abused or committed sucide p a transplant then this liver, which might have helped someone else, would 'go to waste'

chansonsrna · Jun 23, 2005

As an ICU nurse (not for much longer) in a regional transplant center that specializes in liver and small bowel transplant, I hope I can enlighten you. First, liver failure is as you know a process that effects many organ systems, so to say how long a person will live with it is impossible to say without specific information. Secondly, is she at a facility that does transplantation? I have found that there are a lot of misconceptions about transplant from patients and families transferred to us. Hopefully this helps with understanding prioritizing transplant patients:

http://www.cpmc.org/advanced/liver/patients/topics/MELD.html

I would NOT recommend living related transplant based off my experience.

I also think you may be surprised at how resilient a person can be from a tylenol overdose (have seen many we thought would need a new liver that didn't) Will keep you and your family in my prayers.

nurselily3 · Jul 16, 2005

There is some new technology out there at about 5 hospitals...Duke, Stanford and three others I can't think of right now. They are researching a liver dialysis type machine to prolong the life of those who need a transplant when a whole organ isn't available...and also to bridge those who need time to recoup from say a tylenol overdose etc (cause the liver regenerates its cells if given enough time and if it has a few good ones to regernerate). Its still in the works but they are testing it out on humans. You can google liver dialysis and check it out..do some research.

I used to work in our SICU that recovered Liver transplants. Whether or not the patient was a drug user doesn't matter, lots of people get hep c from past drug use. Most have to test clean for a year before they are transplanted. And like the previous reply said, you must make sure you are at a facility that does liver transplants etc. I also don't recommend partial liver transplants or live donor transplants..in fact, our hospital only does whole organ transplants. I think there is a risk with morbidity and mortality.

Liver transplants are pretty fascinating....if they make it through the first year with little to no complications they have a very good chance of having a normal life span. Ex. the olympic skier..can't think of his name. As far as the attempting suicide....these people aren't always lucid all the time, especially as their disease progresses. Their ammonia is high, and they are holding on to all that garbage in their system that a normal liver filters out. Depression is rampant...and a lot of those drugs are metabolized in the liver.

My father had a lung transplant....very different from the liver obviously...but had to go through extensive psychological evaluation before he was placed on the list for transplant.

Hope this helps

dgudmestad · Aug 1, 2005

Everyone is different. Depends alot on their numbers, how far into failure they are, etc.... We transplant whole organs only at our hospital. They must be drug/smoke free for 6 months. They can still be transplanted after suicide attempt if psych gives approval. owever, it seems that we will transplant just about anyone. We transplant folks that other places say they won't touch. The craziest case I had was a 36 y/o guy with HIV, Hep C and haemophilia. He was 1st on the list. I said,"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!???" Nope......1st on the list. He became septic and died before getting transplanted. How crazy is that! :eek:

hi all. another question. when someone needs a liver transplant, how long do they have to find one? they are talking about it being a possibility in the future, but that because she tried to commit suicide and had a history of previous drug use, they told her she won't be high on the list for a transplant. with kidney's you can do dialysis, but how long do you have with a liver when it is going bad or fails?