Open AccessPerceptions of post-transplant recidivism in liver transplantation for alcoholic liver disease
Author(s) -
Yoshikuni Kawaguchi,
Yasuhiko Sugawara,
Nobuhisa Akamatsu,
Junichi Kaneko,
Tomohiro Tanaka,
Sumihito Tamura,
Taku Aoki,
Yoshihiro Sakamoto,
Kiyoshi Hasegawa,
Norihiro Kokudo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
world journal of hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 55
ISSN - 1948-5182
DOI - 10.4254/wjh.v6.i11.812
Subject(s) - abstinence , recidivism , alcoholic liver disease , medicine , liver transplantation , alcoholic hepatitis , transplantation , liver disease , psychiatry , cirrhosis
Although alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is regarded as a common indication for liver transplantation (LT), debatable issues exist on the requirement for preceding alcoholic abstinence, appropriate indication criteria, predictive factors for alcoholic recidivism, and outcomes following living-donor LT. In most institutions, an abstinence period of six months before LT has been adopted as a mandatory selection criterion. Data indicating that pre-transplant abstinence is an associated predictive factor for alcoholic recidivism supports the reasoning behind this. However, conclusive evidence about the benefit of adopting an abstinence period is yet to be established. On the other hand, a limited number of reports available on living-donor LT experiences for ALD patients suggest that organ donations from relatives have no suppressive effect on alcoholic recidivism. Prevention of alcoholic recidivism has proved to be the most important treatment after LT based on the resultant inferior long-term outcome of patients. Further evaluations are still needed to establish strategies before and after LT for ALD.