Transplantation for the Very Sick Patient—Donor and Recipient Factors
Abstract
Purpose of Review
Patients with end-stage chronic liver disease (CLD) frequently deteriorate with development of a ‘frail’ state and progress to development of extra-hepatic organ failures. Making the clinical judgement when a patient is ‘too sick’ to proceed with liver transplantation is challenging; we summarise recent studies that may inform decision-making.
Recent Findings
Reports quantify the impact of both recipient and donor factors related to early post-transplant survival, with consistent adverse association of advanced donor and recipient age, under-nutrition, sarcopenia and impaired functional status, and requirement for critical care unit admission and organ support. Survival for ‘very sick’ recipients has shown progressive improvement over time, but evidence is increasing of much greater post-transplant resource use and cost.
Summary
Factors associated with adverse outcomes in very sick recipients are becoming more clearly delineated. The increasing success of transplantation and exploration of its extended use must be tempered by the recognition of the consequences upon constrained clinical resources.
Keywords
Frailty Performance status Sarcopenia ACLF Outcome predictionNotes
Compliance with Ethical Standards
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent
This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.
References
Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major Importance
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