Liver Transplantation Health Article

PERIODICALS

Brown, R.S., Jr., M. W. Russo, M. Lai, M. L. Shiffman, M. C. Richardson, J. E. Everhart, et al. "A survey of liver transplantation from living adult donors in the United States." New England Journal of Medicine 348, no. 9 (February, 2003):818–25.

Goldstein, M. J., E. Salame, S. Kapur, M. Kinkhabwala, D. La-Pointe-Rudow, N. P. P. Harren, et al. "Analysis of failure in living donor liver transplantation: differential outcomes in children and adults." World Journal of Surgery 27, no. 3 (2003):356–64.

Kelly, D. A. "Strategies for optimizing immunosuppression in adolescent transplant recipients: a focus on liver transplantation." Paediatric Drugs 5, no. 3 (2003):177–83.

Longheval, G., P. Vereerstraeten, P. Thiry, M. Delhaye, O. Le Moine, J. Deviere, et al. "Predictive models of short- and long-term survival in patients with nonbiliary cirrhosis." Liver Transplantation: Official Publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society 9, no. 3 (March, 2003):260–7.

Neff, G. W., A. Bonham, A. G. Tzakis, M. Ragni, D. Jayaweera, E. R. Schiff, et al. "Orthotopic liver transplantation in patients with human immunodeficiency virus and end-stage liver disease." Liver Transplantation: official publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society 9, no. 3 (March, 2003):239–47.

Papatheodoridis, G. V., V. Sevastianos, and A. K. Burrouhs. "Prevention of and treatment for hepatitis B virus infection after liver transplantation in the nucleoside analogues era." American Journal of Transplantation 3, no. 3 (March, 2003):250–8.

Rudow, D. L., M. W. Russo, S. Haflige, J. C. Emond, and R. S. Brown, Jr. "Clinical and ethnic differences in candidates listed for liver transplantation with and without potential living donors." Liver Transplantation: Official Publication of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the International Liver Transplantation Society 9, no. 3 (March, 2003):254–9.

Wong, F. "Liver and kidney diseases." Clinics in Liver Disease 6, no. 4 (November, 2002):981–1011.

ORGANIZATIONS

American Liver Foundation. 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 603, New York, NY. 10038. (800) 465-4837 or (888) 443-7872. Fax: (212) 483.8179. info@liverfoundation.org. <http://www.liverfoundation.org>.

Hepatitis Foundation International (HFI). 504 Blick Drive, Silver Spring, MD. 20904-2901. (800) 891-0707 or (301) 622-4200. Fax: (301) 622-4702. hfi@comcast.net. <http://www.hepfi.org>

National Digestive Diseases, Information Clearinghouse. 2 Information Way, Bethesda, MD. 20892-3570. nddic@info.niddk.nih.gov.

National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Maryland. 20892. (301) 496-4000. NIHInfo@OD.NIH.GOV. <http://www.nih.gov.>

United Network for Organ Sharing. 500-1100 Boulders Parkway, P.O. Box 13770. Richmond, VA. 23225. (888) 894-6361 or (804) 330-8500. <http://www.unos.org>

OTHER

U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health. Liver Transplantation. 2003 [cited March 13, 2003]. <www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/livertransplantation.html>.

J. Ricker Polsdorfer, M.D.
Crystal H. Kaczkowski, M.Sc.

WHO PERFORMS THE PROCEDURE AND WHERE IS IT PERFORMED?

A transplant surgeon will perform the surgery in a hospital that has a special unit called a transplant center.

QUESTIONS TO ASK THE DOCTOR

• What should I do to prepare for this operation?
• Who will tell me about the transplant process?
• Can I tour the transplant center?
• Who are the members of the transplant team and what are their jobs?
• Is there a special nursing unit for transplant patients?
• How many attending surgeons are available to do my type of transplant?
• Does the hospital do living donor transplants?
• Is a living donor transplant a choice in my case? If so, where will the living donor evaluation be done?
• What is the organ recovery cost if I have a living donor?
• Will I also need to change my lifestyle?
• How long will I have to stay in the hospital?
• Why is recovery such a slow process?