[Alcoholic liver disease and liver transplantation]

Abstract

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is the second most common diagnosis among patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT) in Europe and in the United States. The outcome of patients transplanted for ALD is at least as good as that for most other diagnoses and better than that for hepatitis C virus. In case of severe acute alcoholic hepatitis (AAH) non-responders to medical therapy, the reason for denying LT is that it requires abstinence from alcohol for six months before consideration for a transplant. A strict application of a period of abstinence as a policy for transplant eligibility is unfair to non-responder patients, as most of them will have died prior to the end of the six-month sober period. In our opinion, in severe AAH subjects with a good social support, with the frequency of self-help groups (alcoholics anonymous or association of clubs of alcoholics in treatment), with the frequency of Alcohol Unit and without severe psychotic or personality disorders, the lack of pre-LT abstinence alone should not be a barrier against being listed.