MELD/PELD and the allocation of deceased donor livers for status 1 recipients with acute fulminant hepatic failure, primary nonfunction, hepatic artery thrombosis, and acute Wilson's disease

1. Historical perspective of donor allocation to patients with fulminant hepatic failure (FHF). 2. Predicting prognosis in patients with FHF using the London and Clichy criteria. 3. Model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) is a predictor of mortality in patients with FHF. 4. Outcomes of adults listed as Status 1 in the United States. 5. Outcomes of pediatric candidates listed as Status 1 in the United States. 6. Proposed redefinition for Status 1 in adult and pediatric candidates.

Do patients with acute liver failure have a better chance to receive liver grafting?

OBJECTIVE

Patients with acute hepatic failure (AHF) were always given first priority on the transplant waiting list. We investigated whether AHF patients will deprive other patients on the waiting list of the chance of liver transplantation (LTx).

METHODS AND RESULTS

From January 1999 to March 2003, a total of 423 patients were on the transplant waiting list at the National Taiwan University Hospital. Sixty-five of the patients had AHF caused by hepatitis-B-related disease (HBV, n = 52, 80%), Wilson disease (n = 3, 4.6%), drug-induced AHF (n = 3, 4.6%), and other causes (n = 7, 10.8%).Thirty-three patients died and 16 survived by medical treatment. Two received LTx abroad and 14 underwent LTx at our hospital (7 living-related; 7 cadaver). A total of 140 patients died while waiting for a transplant during the period studied. Of them, 107 were among 358 non-AHF patients (30%), and time-to-death interval was 133 +/- 175 days (median: 62); 33 were among 65 AHF patients (51%); time to death was 19 +/- 28 days (median: 8). There were 35 cadaver donor livers available during the period; 28 of 358 non-AHF patients (7.8%), and 7 of 65 AHF patients (10.7%) received cadaveric LTx. Their waiting time totaled 342 +/- 316 and 12 +/- 9 days, respectively (P < .0001).

CONCLUSION

Most AHF patients died unless they received liver grafts. Even with a higher priority assigned to them, AHF patients still have little chance to get a cadaver donor liver in Taiwan, and non-AHF patients have an even slimmer chance. Therefore, we need to encourage liver donation from living-related donors.

Liver transplantation for Wilson s disease: our experience with review of the literature

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Orthotopic liver transplantation is being used with more frequency as the treatment for Wilson s disease. The experience at the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Medicas y Nutricion Salvador Zubiran with orthotopic liver transplantation for Wilson s disease is reported. We perform an extensive literature review for this treatment modality.

METHODS

Between january 2000 and june 2003, 23 orthotopic liver transplants were performed at our institution, 2 of them for Wilson s disease. Both the patients presented with chronic advanced liver disease and one presented neurologic dysfunction.

RESULTS

Both the patients were transplanted without any major complication and are alive 43 and 22 months after the transplant respectively. To our knowledge 370 liver transplants have been reported in the international literature since 1994 for the treatment of Wilson s disease.

CONCLUSIONS

Currently, orthotopic liver transplantation should be considered as a major option for the treatment of chronic liver disease in patients with Wilson s disease. Although it is well known that the transplant only partially corrects the defective metabolism in patients with Wilson s disease, it does convert the copper kinetics of a homozygous to that of a heterozigote, thus, providing an effective phenotypic cure.

Copper metabolism after living related liver transplantation for Wilson’s disease

AIM: Liver transplantation is indicated for Wilson’s disease (WD) patients with the fulminant form and end-stage liver failure. The aim of this study was to review our experience with living-related liver transplantation (LRLT) for WD.

METHODS: A retrospective review was made for WD undergoing LRLT at our hospital from January 2001 to Febuary 2003.

RESULTS: LRLT was carried out in 15 patients with WD, one of them had fulminant hepatic failure and the others had end-stage hepatic insufficiency. The mean age of the patients was 14.5 ± 2.5 years (range 6 to 20 years). All the recipients had low serum ceruloplasmin levels with a mean value of 126.8 ± 34.8 mg/L before transplantation. The serum ceruloplasmin levels increased to an average of 238.6 ± 34.4 mg/L after LRLT at the latest evaluation, between 2 and 27 months after transplantation. A marked reduction in urinary copper excretion was observed in all the recipients after transplantation. Among the eight recipients with preoperative Kayser-Fleischer (K-F) rings, this abnormality resolved completely after LRLT in five patients and partially in three. All the recipients are alive and remain well, and none has developed signs of recurrent WD after a mean follow-up period of 15.4 ± 9.3 months (range 2-27 months) except one who died of severe rejection. The donors were 14 mothers and 1 father. The serum ceruloplasmin levels were within normal limits in all the donors (mean: 220 ± 22.4 mg/L). The mean donor age was 35.0 ± 4.0 years (range, 30 to 45 years). Two donors had biliary leakage and required reoperation. Grafts were harvested as follows: four right lobe grafts without hepatic middle vein and eleven left lobe grafts with hepatic middle vein. The grafts were blood group-compatible in all recipents. Two patients had hepatic artery thrombosis and underwent retransplantation.

CONCLUSION: LRLT is a curative procedure in Wilson’s disease manifested as fulminant hepatic failure and/or end-stage hepatic insufficiency. After liver transplantation, the serum ceruoplasmin level can increase to its normal range while urinary copper excretion decreases. Grafts chosen from heterozygote carriers do not appear to confer any risk of recurrence in recipients.

Outcome of mucormycosis in liver transplantation: four cases and a review of literature

Mucormycosis is a rare but highly invasive fungal infection that occurs in transplant recipients. The literature contains descriptions of 12 cases of mucormycosis after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). This report describes the fatal courses in four patients at our center who developed mucormycosis after liver transplantation. Of 51 liver transplant recipients who received grafts between December 1993 and April 2003, 4 (7.8%; 3 males and 1 female) developed mucormycosis. The primary liver diseases in the four cases were Wilson's disease, autoimmune hepatitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, and cryptogenic cirrhosis. Three of the transplants were harvested by another team and shipped to our center. We concluded that selection of poor transplant candidates, prolonged antibiotic therapy and/or hospitalization prior to OLT, and breaks in aseptic technique during harvesting, shipping, and during operation are the main reasons for the high incidence of mucormycosis in our OLT patients.

[Pregnancy, delivery and puerperium in patients after liver transplantation]

We report two cases of successful pregnancies in women after liver transplantation for end-stage liver dysfunction caused in one case by Wilson disease and in the second one by lupoid hepatitis. For woman with the Wilson disease it was a second pregnancy and for woman with lupoid hepatitis it was the first pregnancy. Mothers continued immunosuppressive therapy during their pregnancies. Labours started spontaneously at 39th and 36th week's of gestation. As a result the healthy two female infants weighing 3600 g and 2420 g respectively were born. The first woman with her baby was discharged from hospital on the third day after delivery and the second one and her baby on the sixth day after delivery. Both were in good condition.

Bridging use of plasma exchange and continuous hemodiafiltration before living donor liver transplantation in fulminant Wilson's disease

A 15-year-old girl presented with acute hepatic failure showing ascites and hepatic encephalopathy, accompanied by hemolytic anemia. She was diagnosed as having fulminant Wilson's disease (FWD). Plasma exchange (PE), continuous hemodiafiltration (CHDF) and D-penicillamine administration were started immediately. Copper [24,000 microg] was removed by PE and CHDF over three days, which relieved the jaundice and the consciousness disorder. A successful liver transplant followed. FWD progresses rapidly and often liver transplantation is the only possible therapy. In this case, PE and CHDF were an effective therapy bridge until liver transplantation.

[Living donor liver transplantation treatment of Wilson's disease complicated with neuropathy]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate living donor liver transplantation for Wilson disease with neurologic features.

METHODS

From Jan 2001 to Mar 2003, fifteen cases of living donor liver transplantation were performed for Wilson Disease (WD), five of those were complicated with neurologic features. A retrospective analysis was given for cooper metabolism and neurologic features.

RESULTS

All operation were living related liver transplantation and donors were mothers. Four left lobes with hepatic middle vein and one right lobe without hepatic middle vein were harvested from donors, and graft volume to recipient body weight ratio was 0.79 approximately 1.08. One patient occurred hepatic artery thrombosis and performed retransplantation later, the other recipients recovered satisfactorily. All patients showed Extrapyramidal sign and three patients companying with language handicap and dyskinesia alleviated postoperation follow-up between 2 and 16 months. All recipients are alive and remain well, and none have developed signs of recurrent WD.

CONCLUSION

Living donor liver transplantation is effective treatment for WD complicated with nervous system symptom, ceruloplasmin is normal and Kayser-Fleischer ring and nervous system symptom are to various extents.

Acquired (non-Wilsonian) hepatocerebral degeneration: complex management decisions

Portal systemic encephalopathy, in its many guises, can be reversible after medical management or liver transplantation. It is much less certain whether patients with a longstanding neurodegenerative syndrome (known in the medical vernacular as acquired hepatocerebral degeneration) can improve. Impressive neuroimaging abnormalities have been reported in this entity.(1) However, the combination of a severe disabling neurologic deficit and widespread magnetic resonance abnormalities tempers the enthusiasm of transplant surgeons to proceed with liver transplantation. In our liver transplantation program, we were recently confronted with such a case, and present herein not only the characteristic magnetic resonance imaging findings but also some of the dilemmas of management.

Treatment of Wilson's disease

On the basis of literature review and own experience we presented the method of treatment of Wilson's disease. Causative treatment has been impossible so far, although gene therapy could be real in the future. Nowadays the principle of treatment is the elimination of the excess of easily mobilized copper by chelating agents or blocking the intestinal absorption of copper. Chelation therapy, aimed at mobilizing copper from the affected organs and promoting its excretion in the urine or stool is the most important. The major chelating agent is d-penicillamine, which is quite effective but not without some side effects. Alternative chelating agents such as trientine and tetrathiomolybdate have also been successfully employed. Zinc salts are also of therapeutic value. They promote copper excretion by inducing the synthesis of metallothionein in the intestine, thereby blocking copper absorption from the gut. Zinc salts have almost no side effects. They cannot be used as an initial treatment, but are very effective for maintenance therapy. The chelation therapy is ineffective in patients with acute liver failure with encephalopathy and hemolysis. In these cases, liver transplantation is the only hope for survival. Liver transplantations in patients with dominating psychoneurological symptoms are open to discussion.

A case of electrical storm in a liver transplant patient

Electrical storm has not been well described in liver transplant patients. We present a case of sympathetically mediated recurrent ventricular fibrillation in a young patient transplanted for acute Wilson's disease. This case highlights the role of the sympathetic nervous system in causing electrical storm and it demonstrates the ability of beta-blocking agents to terminate the event. In young liver transplant patients, beta-blocking agents should be considered for therapy of perioperative electrical storm if there is no known structural or coronary heart disease and when there are no risk factors for, or evidences of, torsades de pointes.

Liver transplantation for hepatic and neurological Wilson's disease

Wilson's disease (WD) is an autosomal-recessive inherited disorder of copper metabolism characterized by excessive deposition of copper throughout the body. If medical treatment fails in cases of fulminant hepatic failure and progressive hepatic dysfunction due to advanced cirrhosis, liver transplantation (OLTx) has been demonstrated to be a valuable treatment option. Between December 1993 and December 2002, 225 OLTxs in 198 patients were performed in our institution. In this consecutive series six patients (three females and three males) were liver grafted for WD. The follow-up ranged from 3 to 7 years. All patients are alive with well-functioning grafts at present. The ceruloplasmin levels increased after transplantation and remained normal. The Kayser-Fleischer ring disappeared in all patients, and urinary copper excretion normalized. The neurological manifestations in the two patients with severe neurological symptoms showed after 2 to 5 years a downward tendency; in one the ataxic movements disappeared completely. The psychiatric disorder in one patient disappeared as well the mild neurological symptoms in the patient with CHILD A cirrhosis. These two patients are fully recovered and returned to work. OLTx should be considered as a treatment option in patients with severe progressive neurological deficits even in cases with stable liver function since liver grafting definitely cures the underlying biochemical defect. In such cases an early decision for liver transplantation is justified because neurological deficits may become irreversible.

Application of recombinant activated factor VII for treatment of impaired haemostasis during liver transplantation in recipients with Wilson's disease--a report of two cases

Recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa, NovoSeven, Novo Nordisk A/S, Denmark) is a treatment used to prevent and arrest intra- and postoperative bleeding in patients with haemophilia A or B complicated by circulating anticoagulants (inhibitors of FVIII and FIX) and in patients without haemophilia who spontaneously develop inhibitors of FVIII, i.e. in acquired haemophilia. Patients who qualify for liver transplantation due to liver dysfunction may have varying degrees of coagulation impairment and thus carry an elevated risk of massive bleeding and have worse prognosis. The authors administered recombinant activated factor VII to two patients with coagulation abnormalities in the course of Wilson's disease during liver transplantation.

Liver transplantation for Wilson's disease: long-term results and quality-of-life assessment

BACKGROUND

Wilson's disease associated with severe liver disease is effectively cured by orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). However, there are also anecdotal reports of improved or resolved neurologic symptoms after OLT in patients with stable or normal liver function. Side effects with conventional chelating agents are common, and it has been suggested that OLT should be considered in patients with severe progressive neurologic symptoms. However, the decision to apply this therapeutic modality to a subgroup of patients without significant liver disease is a quality-of-life issue.

METHODS

Long-term follow-up and quality-of-life data were obtained prospectively for 24 patients who underwent OLT between 1988 and 2000 for Wilson's disease associated with severe liver disease. In long-term survivors, quality of life was assessed using the 36-Item Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaire.

RESULTS

One patient who had multiorgan failure before OLT died within 24 hr of surgery and two patients died within 1 year because of immunosuppressant-related complications. There have been no deaths or graft loss in patients who have undergone transplantation since 1994, and after a median follow-up of 92 months, all survivors have satisfactory graft function (5-year patient and graft survival, 87.5%), with quality-of-life scores (assessed in 86% of survivors) comparable to age- and sex-matched controls from the general population.

CONCLUSIONS

The authors' results suggest that liver transplantation can be safely performed in patients with Wilson's disease, with excellent long-term results and quality of life. Further study of the utility of liver transplantation in the management of patients with severe neurologic symptoms is justified.

Perioperative use of recombinant activated factor VII in liver transplantation

Recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa, NovoSeven, Novo Nordisk A/S, Denmark) is a treatment used to prevent and arrest intra- and postoperative bleeds in patients with haemophilia A or B complicated by circulating anticoagulants (inhibitors of FVIII and FIX). Patients who qualify for liver transplantation may have varying degrees of coagulation impairment, which may adversely impact elective anaesthetic and surgical procedures and elevate the risk of intraoperative bleeds, which require massive blood transfusions and worsen prognosis. Recently, reports have been published on the use of rFVIIa prior to surgical procedures, which are likely to cause severe blood loss as well as for so-called emergency therapy of coagulation disorders during liver transplantation.

Hepatic copper concentration in children undergoing living related liver transplantation due to Wilsonian fulminant hepatic failure

Liver transplantation is indicated for Wilson's disease (WD) patients having the fulminant form and end-stage liver failure. To evaluate whether living related liver transplantation (LRLT) can correct the copper metabolism in WD patients, we studied two children who underwent LRLT because of fulminant hepatic failure. They were 7 and 13 yrs old at the time LRLT was performed. Serum ceruloplasmin levels, serum copper levels, copper urine excretion, and hepatic copper concentrations were measured. Serum ceruloplasmin levels (16.7 +/- 1.2 mg/dL) and serum copper levels (67.0 +/- 1.4 microg/dL) were lower than the normal range after LRLT in case 1. In both patients, urinary copper excretion was reduced markedly after LRLT, but was not normalized (case 1, 191.2 +/- 182.2 microg/d; case 2, 140.0 +/- 156.7 microg/d). Hepatic copper concentrations were slightly elevated (case 1, 158.8 +/- 44.6 microg/g dry weight; case 2, 147.0 microg/g dry weight) after LRLT in both cases, but did not exceed 250 microg/g dry weight. LRLT is a curative procedure in Wilson's disease presenting fulminant hepatic failure or advanced cirrhosis. However, this study indicates that the conditions of copper metabolism in WD patients undergoing LRLT are similar to those in heterozygous genetic carriers. Because the living related donors are the parents who carry the abnormal gene, LRLT cannot completely restore the copper balance in WD patients.

Splenohepatic arterial steal syndrome in liver transplantation: clinical features and management

Well-known arterial complications after liver transplantation comprise thrombosis and major stenosis, which usually necessitate a retransplantation procedure. In our institution, in a series of 165 consecutive liver transplantations, we report the first recognized case of a splenohepatic arterial steal syndrome. This is characterized by an arterial malperfusion of the hepatic graft caused by a marked diversion of blood flow to a significantly enlarged spleen, which leads to major ischemic damage of the hepatic graft. After splenectomy the perfusion through the hepatic artery increased substantially and the graft was salvaged, with a following favorable clinical course. Splenohepatic arterial steal syndrome may ultimately result in graft loss if it is falsely diagnosed or recognized too late. A post-transplantation splenectomy represents a successful therapeutic approach; alternatively a primary arterial anastomosis to the aorta prevents the development of this condition.