Transplanting liver tissue from a healthy living person to a patient in serious need is safe, increases the donor pool, and saves lives, Thomas G. Cotter, MD, MSCP, and colleagues report in Liver Transplantation.
“Living-donor liver transplantation among patients with MELD scores of 25 or above can be done safely,” Dr. Cotter notes. Read more in Physician’s Weekly.
End-stage liver disease patients at lower risk for death in the short term still reaped the substantial benefits of a living-donor liver transplant (LDLT), a case-control study revealed.
Compared with individuals who remained on the transplant waitlist, those with Model for End-Stage Liver Disease incorporating sodium levels (MELD-Na) scores ranging from 6 to 19 gained an additional 13 to 17 years of life following LDLT, reported John Malamon, PhD, of the University of Colorado in Aurora, and colleagues. Read more in MedPage Today.