Living-Related Transplantation
Living-related transplantation is a safe alternative to non-living liver
transplantation. During this procedure, a portion of a family member’s
liver is transplanted to the patient.
Reduced-Size Transplantation
To increase the availability of organs for potential recipients, reduced-size
liver transplantation is performed. During the procedure, a larger
organ from a non-living donor is surgically reduced in size for a
smaller recipient.
Auxiliary Transplantation
Auxiliary transplantation is a procedure where a portion of the donor
liver is placed next to the patient’s own liver and used to
temporarily support the patient’s existing liver until the
patients own liver recovers.
Hepatocyte Transplantation
Hepatocyte transplantation is an exciting non-surgical approach. The
procedure, featured in the May 14, 1998 New England Journal of Medicine,
transplants billions of liver cells from a donor liver through a
catheter into the recipient's liver.
Waiting Time
A shortage of donor organs keeps many
hopeful recipients on the waiting list for prolonged periods
of time. According to the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS),
at the end of 2003, there were 17,256 people on the waiting list
for a liver transplant. During that same year nationally, 6,187
people died while waiting for a transplant. The waiting time
for liver transplantation that requires a donation from someone
who has died is highly variable. The waiting time depends on
the patient’s blood type, body size and the severity of
their liver disease.
For example, a patient who is well enough
not to require hospitalization and who is waiting for a blood
type O liver may wait as long at 18 months or more. For patients
who are ill enough to require hospitalization, the waiting time
ranges from a few days to several months. Waiting times are dictated
by the national liver allocation policy.
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