Last updated: 02/17/2009

Twenty-five million or one in 10 Americans are or have been afflicted with liver or biliary diseases. As of June 2003, there were 17,239 patients on the UNOS National Transplant Waiting List who were waiting for a liver transplantation. For the previous...

year (July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002), there were a total of 5,261 liver transplants performed. Of those, 4,785 were cadaver donors (already deceased) and 476 living donors. For liver transplants performed from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2001, the one-year survival rate was 86% for adults; 1,861 patients died while on the UNOS waiting list for the year ending June 30, 2002. More than 80% of children survive transplantation to adolescence and adulthood.

Since the introduction of cyclosporine and tacrolimus (drugs that suppress the immune response and keep it from attacking and damaging the new liver), success rates for liver transplantation have reached 80–90%.

Infections occur in about half of transplant patients and often appear during the first week. Biliary complications are apparent in about 22% of recipient patients (and 6% of donors), and vascular complications occur in 9.8% of recipient patients. Other complications in donors include re-operation (4.5%) and death (0.2%).

There are potential social, economic, and psychological problems, and a vast array of possible medical and surgical complications. Close medical surveillance must continue for the rest of the patient's life.