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Liver Retransplantation Study Shows Benefit for All Recipients
Liver Retransplantation Study Shows Benefit for All Recipients
By Denise B. Hensley
Patients who require a redo liver transplant can expect to survive as long as those who undergo a single transplant, a team from the Lynda K. and David M. Underwood Center for Digestive Disorders Underwood Digestive determined in a recent study.
“If you consider the second transplant an intervention and not a completely new procedure, then the survival from the date of the initial transplant is as good as that for a patient who didn’t have a redo transplant,” said Ashton A. Connor, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, , who led the study that was published in Transplantation. The study concludes that liver retransplantation is a safe option for patients with liver graft failure, and outcomes are comparable to primary liver transplant.
AT A GLANCE
the analysis
0
patients
undergoing single liver transplant
patients undergoing
re-transplantation
0
The study covered January 2008 to December 2021.
AT A GLANCE
The Analysis
0
patients
undergoing single liver transplant
0
patients undergoing
re-transplantation
The study covered January 2008 to December 2021.
“Liver retransplantation outcomes have been historically associated with poorer results, possibly due to differences in study methodologies,” Connor said, adding that he is currently working on statistical software that he hopes will help liver transplant centers standardize outcome data and analyses for clearer comparisons. This modular analysis that Connor and his colleagues, including Ahmed Elaileh, MD, and Khush Patel, MD, are creating will continue to grow in importance as the need for liver transplants increases.
Ashton A. Connor, MD, PhD
Ahmed Elaileh, MD
Khush Patel, MD
Liver retransplantation continues to increase because of greater numbers of liver transplants being performed, use of marginal donors, degree of recipient preoperative liver dysfunction, and longer survival after liver transplant.
Survival after the second liver transplant was independent of the interval between transplants, intraoperative packed red blood cell use, cold ischemia time, and preoperative mechanical ventilation — all previously linked to worse outcomes.
“The success of the liver transplant program is what brought me here,” said Connor whose goal is to contribute ideas and research for this growing field. “Clinicians and scientists have overcome many of the initial challenges in solid organ transplantation, allowing it to become a widespread medical solution to end-organ failure, and we know what new issues must be considered next. We’re constantly finding more sophisticated methods for better outcomes.”