The liver is a vital organ with more than 500 functions, including protein synthesis, detoxification, regulation, metabolic functions, and biliary production. Liver failure, whether occurring without preexisting liver disease (acute liver failure [ALF]) or as an acute decompensation of a…
Principles of Organ Preservation and Machine Perfusion Interrupting the blood flow to an organ is an unavoidable step in the transplantation process. Even when the procedures in the donor and the recipient are perfectly coordinated, a period of ischemia necessarily…
Liver transplantation is the standard of care in patients with end-stage liver disease and those with tumors of hepatic origin. In 2011 there were 16,107 patients in the United States waiting for a liver transplant, but only 6341 transplants were…
The liver has an amazing regenerative capacity, which can especially be observed in response to toxic injury and infection. However, in patients with certain hepatic conditions such as cirrhosis, steatosis, and conditions due to age—where liver matrix and cells are…
A severe shortage of human livers for allotransplantation has sparked interest over the years in the potential use of animals in lieu of humans as a source of livers—that is, xenotransplantation. Besides offering a plentiful supply of livers, xenotransplantation might…
In 1953 Watson and Crick published in Nature the double helix structure of DNA. The following year Joseph Murray performed the first successful human kidney transplant on identical twins, which was published 2 years later in the Journal of the…
Human liver transplantation was first attempted in 1963 in a child with biliary cirrhosis resulting from extrahepatic biliary atresia. At the time such patients were considered to be the best candidates for liver transplantation because there were no other options…
In 1983, after review of over 500 cases, the National Institutes of Health issued a consensus statement establishing liver transplantation (LT) as an effective and durable therapy for adults and children with end-stage liver disease. Before this event the procedure…
The success and evolution of liver transplantation as a therapeutic treatment for patients with advanced liver disease led to a National Institutes of Health–sponsored Consensus Development Conference, which recommended that a “registry or clearinghouse be established for collection and evaluation…
Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is a durable and the definitive lifesaving treatment modality for patients suffering from irreversible liver failure. Although thousands of patients receive liver transplants each year, the limited organ supply remains a reality, and many patients are…