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Liver Transplant Results Improve, but Re-Transplant Results Lag

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Advances in knowledge and techniques improved postoperative liver transplant outcomes, but optimizing re-liver transplant outcomes requires further research.

Initial liver transplant (LT) outcomes have improved over recent decades; however, liver re-transplant outcomes have not kept pace, Stanford University researchers report in Clinical Transplantation.

“Our study investigated the progress of liver re-transplant (re-LT) outcomes in the United States over the past two decades. Read the article in Physician’s Weekly.

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‘Significant differences’ reported by race, ethnicity in transplant rates for MASH-HCC

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By Kate Burba

BOSTON — Hispanic and Asian patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma were less likely to undergo liver transplantation compared with other races and ethnicities, data showed.

“MASH-HCC rates are much higher in our Hispanic patients and have surpassed hepatitis C-related HCC in 2019,” David W. Victor, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital, said at The Liver Meeting. Read the full article in Healio.

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Survival “Excellent” for Patients With Infection Before Liver Transplant

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“The risk of poor outcomes because of the persistence/recurrence of infections after liver transplant (LT) is a main barrier in the decision to proceed or not to LT in patients with cirrhosis and infections,” Salvatore Piano, MD, PhD, and colleagues wrote. “In fact, infections increase morbidity and mortality in the early post-transplant period, and use of immunosuppression may limit the ability of the host to counteract the pathogens. For these reasons, international guidelines state that active infections should be adequately treated before LT. However, the optimal timing of LT in patients surviving an episode of infection as well as their prioritization on LT waiting list is still to be established.” Read the full article in Physician’s Weekly.

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Researchers discover a novel pathway that minimizes liver injury during transplantation

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By University of California, Los Angeles

UCLA-led research describes the role that a protein called CEACAM1 plays in protecting the liver from injury during the transplantation process, potentially improving transplant outcomes. But the features that regulate this protective characteristic remain unknown.

In a study, published online Aug. 2 in Science Translational Medicine, a research team has identified the molecular factors at the root of this protection and shown how using molecular tools and alternative gene splicing can make CEACAM1 more protective, thus reducing organ injury and ultimately improving post-transplant outcomes. Read the full article in Medical Xpress.

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The Truth About Black Americans and Liver Transplants

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By Maia Niguel Hoskin, PhD

For Black Americans with liver cancer, getting a transplant can be especially arduous and daunting. And even though the procedure has a success rate of 85 to 90 percent, according to Cleveland Clinic, liver recipients who are Black are less likely to survive than those who are white or Hispanic.

Hugo Hool, MD, an oncologist and the director of the Hunt Cancer Institute at Torrance Memorial, in California, says racial disparities are so significant that race alone is the biggest predictor of who is likely to die of liver cancer — for both people who have had a transplant and those who have not.
Read the full article in Everyday Health.

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One day on the field, admitted to the ICU the next: Rob’s liver transplant journey

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By Veronica Giarla

When you’re a teen, it’s not very common to worry about what’s going on inside your body — especially not about potential organ failure. For Rob, now 14 years old, that happened in the blink of an eye. One day, he was scoring goals in soccer and hanging out with his friends. But in just a matter of hours, he was in acute liver failure.

“Rob woke up feeling not himself,” remembers Rachel, Rob’s mom. “He had diarrhea, was lethargic, and was getting worse by the hour. By the afternoon, his eyes were turning yellow, and that’s when I knew we had to go to Boston Children’s Hospital.”
Read the full article from Boston Children’s Hospital.

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Liver Transplant Outcomes Worse for Black Patients With HCC

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Contributor: Fnu Vikash, MD

While liver transplantation was less likely for Black patients with HCC, those who did receive a transplant experienced worse outcomes.

Black patients with hepatocellular carcinoma had lower rates of liver transplantation, as well as more complications and mortality when they did undergo a transplant, than other participants in a study of more than 112,000 patients, according to findings presented at the 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting.
Read the full article in Physician’s Weekly.

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U-M study may help identify patients needing liver transplants

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by Mary Corey

A recent study conducted by a team of University of Michigan medical researchers may help to identify which patients suffering from acute liver failure need liver transplants to live and which can survive without them, helping hospitals more effectively allocate organ donations. With the overall mortality rate of acute liver failure reaching almost 50%, the researchers set out to find a way to tell which patients most urgently need a liver transplant and which can likely survive without. Read more in The Michigan Daily.

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Liver transplant survivor’s recovery linked to sociodemographic factors, study shows

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By UT Southwestern Medical Center

The resilience and coping abilities of patients who’ve had liver transplants vary and change over time and are often linked to sociodemographic factors including income, race, and education, a study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers shows. The findings could lead to tailored interventions to optimize clinical and patient-centered outcomes among liver transplant recipients.

“When we take care of patients who have gone through this life-changing surgery, recovery really evolves over time,” said transplant hepatologist Sarah R. Lieber, M.D., M.S.C.R., Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and a member of the Division of Digestive and Liver Diseases. Read more in Medical Xpress.

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Who deserves a liver transplant?

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With deaths from alcohol-related disease on rise, some in the field are rethinking criteria that exclude patients from life-saving care

By Samantha Laine Perfas

During one of his first rotations as a medical student, John Messinger had a patient in his 40s with alcohol-related hepatitis. Because the patient had been treated for alcohol use disorder and relapsed, he was ineligible for a liver transplant. Messinger watched the patient deteriorate, knowing more could have been done to save his life. Read the full story in The Harvard Gazette.

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