A liver transplant is a surgery to replace a diseased liver with a healthy liver from another person. A whole liver may be transplanted, or just part of one.
In most cases, the healthy liver will come from an organ donor who has just died.
Sometimes a healthy living person will donate part of their liver. A living donor may be a family member. Or it may be someone who is not related to you but whose blood type is a good match.
A liver transplant may be recommended if you have end-stage liver disease (chronic liver failure). This is a serious, life-threatening liver disease. It can be caused by several liver conditions.
If your doctor recommends a liver transplant, you may be referred to a transplant center. You're also free to select a transplant center on your own or choose a center from your insurance company's list of preferred providers.
For a planned living transplant, you should not eat for 8 hours before the surgery. This often means not having any food or drink after midnight. If your liver is from a donor who has just died, you should not eat or drink once you are told a liver is available.
Liver transplant surgery is done using general anesthesia, so you'll be sedated during the procedure.
The transplant surgeon makes a long incision across your abdomen to access your liver. The location and size of your incision vary according to your surgeon's approach and your own anatomy.
The surgeon removes the diseased liver and places the donor liver in your body. Then the surgeon connects your blood vessels and bile ducts to the donor’s liver. Surgery can take up to 12 hours, depending on your situation.
Expect six months or more recovery time before you'll feel fully healed after your liver transplant surgery. You may be able to resume normal activities or go back to work a few months after surgery. How long it takes you to recover may depend on how ill you were before your liver transplant.
You must take medicines for the rest of your life to help the transplanted liver survive in your body. These medicines are called anti-rejection medicines (immunosuppressive medicines). They weaken your immune system’s response.
Each person may react differently to medicines, and each transplant team has preferences for different medicines.
Liver transplant survival rates In general, about 75% of people who undergo liver transplants live for at least five years. That means that for every 100 people who receive a liver transplant for any reason, about 75 will live for five years and 25 will die within five years.
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