Information for Patients
Transplantation is the only effective treatment
for a person with severe liver disease whose liver
is no longer functioning adequately.
The following diseases are commonly treated with
liver transplantation:
- Cirrhosis from viral hepatitis (Hepatitis
B, Hepatitis C)
- Alcoholic cirrhosis
- Primary biliary cirrhosis
- Primary sclerosing cholangitis
- Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
- Primary hemochromatosis
- Wilson's disease
- Toxic hepatitis
- Primary hepatic tumors confined to the liver
- Budd-Chiari syndrome
- Fulminant and subfulminant hepatic failure
- Polycystic liver disease
Liver transplant candidates must be evaluated
and approved for transplantation, then must wait
for a matching donor liver. Liver transplant candidacy
is determined on a case-by-case basis.
Patients with the following liver conditions
may be ineligible for liver transplantation:
- Active alcohol abuse or drug abuse
- Uncontrolled infection outside the liver
- Severe cardiopulmonary disease
- AIDS
- Liver cancer spread outside the liver
If you have questions about whether or not you
or a loved one is eligible for liver transplantation,
speak with your doctor.
Revised by Kim
Olthoff, MD
Last updated February 2006
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