Orthotopic liver transplantation at Addenbrooke's Hospital Cambridge 1968 to 1991

Abstract

Liver grafting is now established as the optimal treatment for patients with end-stage parenchymal liver disease. Twenty-three years of experience at a single center is presented. The 1-year actuarial patient survival rate for all cases transplanted in Cambridge has now risen from 10% in 1968 to 1970 to 80% in 1990 to 1991. Increasing numbers of patients are being referred for transplantation with an ever-increasing range of indications being developed. Many inborn errors of metabolism can now be cured by liver grafting. There is still, however, considerable scope for improvement in many areas of patient treatment from operative and postoperative care to long-term immunosuppressive management. Much remains to be done to minimize early sepsis- and rejection-related deaths and late immunosuppression-related morbidity.