VIDEO: Survival benefits, relapse risks in liver transplant for alcoholic hepatitis

SAN FRANCISCO – Are policies requiring 6 months of abstinence before liver transplantation in severe alcoholic hepatitis justified, given the potential survival advantage that earlier transplantation offers?

Alcoholic hepatitis has an “exceptionally high mortality rate,” noted Dr. Brian Lee of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. But a policy requiring 6 months of abstinence before liver transplantation in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis “is possibly even causing a precondition that’s death for these patients.”

In an interview at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Dr. Lee discussed a study in which early liver transplantation in 40 patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis achieved a 100% survival rate at 1 year, with a 22% alcohol relapse rate.

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SAN FRANCISCO – Are policies requiring 6 months of abstinence before liver transplantation in severe alcoholic hepatitis justified, given the potential survival advantage that earlier transplantation offers?

Alcoholic hepatitis has an “exceptionally high mortality rate,” noted Dr. Brian Lee of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. But a policy requiring 6 months of abstinence before liver transplantation in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis “is possibly even causing a precondition that’s death for these patients.”

In an interview at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Dr. Lee discussed a study in which early liver transplantation in 40 patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis achieved a 100% survival rate at 1 year, with a 22% alcohol relapse rate.

[email protected]

SAN FRANCISCO – Are policies requiring 6 months of abstinence before liver transplantation in severe alcoholic hepatitis justified, given the potential survival advantage that earlier transplantation offers?

Alcoholic hepatitis has an “exceptionally high mortality rate,” noted Dr. Brian Lee of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. But a policy requiring 6 months of abstinence before liver transplantation in patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis “is possibly even causing a precondition that’s death for these patients.”

In an interview at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, Dr. Lee discussed a study in which early liver transplantation in 40 patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis achieved a 100% survival rate at 1 year, with a 22% alcohol relapse rate.

[email protected]