A liver transplant is a surgical procedure to replace a diseased liver with a healthy liver (completely or partially) from another person or donor. Surgery is prescribed for adults, children, and even infants who are at least six months old.
The liver is the only internal body organ that regenerates. The transplanted section of the liver as well as the reduced liver of a living donor can grow to its normal size within weeks.
Liver transplant specialists are specialized physicians who are trained to manage patients with end-stage liver disease before and after liver transplantation.
Who needs a liver transplant and transplant?
The liver is the largest internal organ in the body, and it performs at least 500 functions and produces more than a thousand enzymes and other proteins that are critical to good health. The liver also filters the blood of impurities and metabolizes food and other substances that enter the body. Therefore, if your liver can no longer perform its functions, a transplant is necessary.
Here are some of the most common diseases that can lead to a liver transplant
Chronic viral hepatitis B, C, D
Autoimmune hepatitis – the body’s immune system disrupts and destroys liver tissue
Laennec’s, idiopathic biliary cirrhosis
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) that leads to scarring of the liver is called nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis has now become a major cause of cirrhosis.
Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) – progressive diseases that cause liver failure. In primary sclerosing cholangitis, the bile ducts gradually become damaged by the inflammation.
Acute liver failure is usually caused by a virus, ingestion of a toxin or misuse of acetaminophen, a common pain reliever.
hepatic tumors
Inherited and genetic metabolic disorders
alcoholic liver disease
Liver trauma caused by blunt force or other accidents
Toxic exposures to pesticides, asbestos and other hazardous materials/environment.
Various cases such as:
Adult cystic disease – the presence of cyst or cysts in the liver).
amyloidosis – deposits of the abnormal protein amyloid in the liver,
Alagille syndrome – the liver has too few bile ducts
Sarcoidosis – small clumps of cells in the liver.
Patients with lung or heart disease, osteomyelitis, tuberculosis, other infectious diseases, cancer or other life-threatening conditions are not eligible for liver transplantation.
Types of liver transplant?
A liver transplant may be a whole liver (from a dead donor) or just a portion of the liver. Health care facilities and medical training institutions classify a liver transplant based on whether it is a total or partial liver transplant, as well as whether the liver comes from a living or dead donor.
Homologous Liver Transplant (OLT)
This is a whole liver transplant. The damaged liver is removed from the patient’s body, and the liver is replaced from the donor. A patient’s healthy liver must be transplanted within 12 to 18 hours after it is removed from the donor. Whole liver donors can be people who have registered their desire to donate body organs in case they die suddenly from an accident or become cerebral cerebral but with the rest of the body still functioning normally.
Heterogeneous Liver Transplant (HLT)
This is a partial liver transplant. It is associated with the transplantation of a part of a healthy liver from a living or dead person to the damaged liver of the patient. In heterotopic liver transplant surgery, a portion of the new liver is attached to a portion of the patient’s damaged liver.
Division of the type of liver transplant
In this type of liver transplant, a whole liver from a recently deceased donor is given to two recipients. This procedure is most appropriate if the pair of recipients is a child and an adult. Adults usually get a larger right lobe and a child will get a smaller left lobe. However, there are ongoing studies to segment the liver so that each segment would be suitable for transplantation into two adult recipients.
Auxiliary transplantation and additional partial orthotopic liver transplantation (APOLT) which are the differences from heterologous liver transplantation
Why do people want liver transplants in Turkey?
Turkey’s medical infrastructure, which has improved a lot since the early 2000s and the expertise of medical personnel can successfully treat liver transplantation at a much lower cost. In fact, Turkey “performs nearly twice as many live donor transplants as the entire United States.”
Turkey has excellent surgeons/hospitals
The average waiting time for a liver transplant ranges from 135 to 270 days for adults and 73 days for children in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. It could be longer because who can say when livers from a deceased donor will be available?
Long waiting time can be greatly reduced or avoided if there is a live donor. Years ago, living donors were reluctant to undergo major surgery to remove part of the liver due to complications. Living donors should know that the donor mortality rate is now 0.05%.
Successful living donor liver transplants have been performed in Turkey since 1990. There are about 30 liver transplant facilities in Turkey that perform the highest number of liver transplants per world population with a rate of 90% alive within a year after surgery.
Prices in Turkey are quite reasonable compared to most countries, especially Europe and the United States.
