You cannot donate a liver if you have significant organ diseases (heart, kidney, lung), cancer, hepatitis, uncontrolled diabetes, active substance abuse, HIV, or are pregnant; you must also be between 18-60 (usually), have a healthy BMI, good mental health, and a compatible blood type, with screening tests ruling out fatty liver, infections, and other serious issues.
Transplant centers also want to know that you don't have medical problems like these: Liver disease, including hepatitis. Diabetes (or a strong family history of the disease) Heart, kidney, or lung disease.
You can donate a kidney, a piece of your liver, and certain other organs and tissues while alive. About 6,500 living donation transplants take place each year. Unlike deceased donors, a living donor can decide who to donate their organ to, helping a recipient get an organ transplant faster.
You may wish to donate a part of your liver to someone you know. This is called a “directed donation.” You can do this if your blood type is compatible and your liver size is comparable with theirs. If you're not a match with your intended recipient, you can try a “paired exchange” program.
For many people, waiting on a liver transplant can take years on the current wait list. The traditional organ donor model of waiting on a deceased donor's organ to match the recipient has created significant wait times for those in desperate need of a new liver.
Throughout the United States, patients waiting for liver transplants are prioritized based on the severity of their illness, as measured by what's called the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score. The score uses blood tests to determine how urgently you need a liver transplant within the next three months.
How long will my liver transplant last? Liver transplant can have excellent outcomes. Recipients have been known to live a normal life over 30 years after the operation.
Risks Associated with Liver Donation
Even though live liver donation is considered a very safe operation, it involves major surgery and is associated with complications, which may include: Possible allergic reaction to anesthesia. Pain and discomfort. Nausea.
A liver from a living donor also has a longer survival rate. Living-donor liver transplants are more common among children who need a liver transplant than among adults because suitable deceased-donor organs are scarce. Most living liver donors are close family members or friends of the liver transplant candidate.
Summary: Perioperative death and death within the first-year post-donation is a rare event with an estimated incidence of 0.09%, or about 1 in 1000 living donors.
But it's harder to match a liver than a kidney. Beyond blood type, the size and anatomy of the donor liver must be a good match for the recipient. This narrows down the list of acceptable transplants—only about 20 to 25% of those on the waiting list have a suitable match.
Lungs are the most difficult organ to transplant because they are highly susceptible to infections in the late stages of the donor's life.
You don't have to be related to someone to donate a lobe of your liver. In fact, you can donate to family and even friends as long as you have a close emotional connection with your recipient.
There is a minimal risk, 1 in 1000, of getting acute liver failure within the first 3 months after donation, which is reversible. Usually, your liver will return to normal function by 3 months.
Unfortunately, live liver donors have significant pain after the surgery. You will be very uncomfortable for at least the first week. You will have less pain as each day goes by. Most of our live liver donors have significant discomfort for 2-4 weeks after surgery.
Traditionally, being liver transplant candidate requires “six months of abstinence” from alcohol. However, the so-called “six-month rule” may not save some of life especially in severe ALHep patients. We validated the impact of the “six-month rule” on post-transplant outcomes.
If a liver transplant candidate is eligible to receive from a living donor, then a family member, relative or close friend can be considered for donation.
If the Heart Doesn't Stop Right Away
If the patient does not die within the medical time frame (usually 90 minutes), organ donation cannot take place because the organs are no longer be viable for transplant.
If your liver transplant was due to an alcohol-related disease, you must never drink alcohol again as you risk harming your transplanted liver. This also applies if alcohol was thought to have contributed to your liver disease, even if it was not the main cause.
Liver. How long transplants last: Most patients (75%) will live at least 5 years after a liver transplant. Longest reported: more than 40 years.
A 2021 study found that liver procurement costs could be over $75,000. Hospital and transplant surgeon costs: The largest expense for a liver transplant is the total hospital stay charges and the transplant surgeon's fees. Combined, these could be up to $500,000.
How long will you stay in hospital? You can expect to be in hospital for 7-14 days after a liver transplant.
Immunosuppressive agents administered after LT can cause alterations in mental status, and concomitant drugs that inhibit their metabolism may exacerbate this complication. Corticosteroids can cause confusion, mood disturbances, manic states, or psychosis, which improve with dose reduction or drug discontinuation.
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