Liver transplantation for the referring physician

Abstract

Liver transplantation has become the treatment of choice for nearly all causes of end-stage liver disease, fulminant liver failure, and selected primary hepatic malignancies. The demand for liver transplantation has persistently outmatched the availability of donor organs leading to the development of novel strategies to expand the donor pool. The authors review the process of liver transplant evaluation, methods used to address the donor shortage, and disease-specific outcomes and challenges and discuss posttransplant care.

Keywords: Child-Turcotte-Pugh; Donation after cardiac death; Extended criteria donor; Fulminant hepatic failure; Hepatic artery thrombosis; Hepatocellular carcinoma.