The quality of life following liver transplantation: a preliminary report

Abstract

Quality of life is a multidimensional construct that encompasses functional behavioral and cognitive capacities, health status, emotional well-being, and psychosocial adjustment. A program of interdisciplinary investigation at the University of Pittsburgh Health Sciences Center has been directed at studying the outcome of liver transplantation with respect to the impact of such surgery on improving life quality. The data obtained have been subjected only to descriptive and univariate analyses but indicate that liver transplantation surgery results in a sharp improvement in quality of life relative to one's pretransplant status, although it does not return the recipient to their premorbid baseline. Following transplantation, a substantial reversal of identified pretransplant neuropsychological impairments also occurs, although performance does not appear to return to normal levels. Specifically, visuopractic impairments, which are the most salient neuropsychologic concomitants of hepatic encephalopathy, are still detectable 3 years after transplantation. Nonetheless, normal or near normal functioning on measures of cognitive capacity, health status, emotional well-being and social, vocational, and behavioral competency are found in liver transplant survivors.