Waiting time for your liver transplant can vary from a single day to months or years, until a suitable donor is available.
People needing liver or heart transplants often need to wait nine or more months. Recipients are assessed for compatibility to the donor (not just blood type, but for six different tissue antigen subtypes as well as general body size – e.g. putting an adult heart into a small child is not possible).
The waiting period for a deceased donor transplant can range from less than 30 days to more than 5 years. How long you will wait depends on how badly you need a new liver.
Waiting for a liver transplant
Donor livers are scarce and waiting for a suitable liver may take many months or even several years. During this time, the cancer may continue to grow. As a result, most people have tumour ablation or TACE to control the cancer while they wait for a donor liver to become available.
Organ donation process
There are around 1,800 Australians waitlisted for a transplant and around 14,000 additional people on dialysis – some of whom may need a kidney transplant.
Some people may not be suitable for a liver transplant. Some reasons a person may not qualify include: They have other untreatable conditions affecting other organs, such as cancer or severe coronary artery disease.
Dr Hodgkinson said it was extremely gratifying to know patient time on the waitlist had been reduced and that five-year survival rates continued to improve in Australia. “Historically, liver transplants have had a 90% survival rate after five years, but now our five-year survival rate has improved to 96%.”
a serious heart and/or lung condition, such as heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) a serious mental health or behavioural condition that means you would be unlikely to be able to follow the medical recommendations for life after a liver transplant.
Liver transplant can have excellent outcomes. Recipients have been known to live a normal life over 30 years after the operation.
Factors that may cause a patient to not be selected for a liver transplant include obesity, physical weakness and an inability to meet the post-transplant care requirements.
If your MELD or PELD score is very high, you will have very high priority for a transplant. MELD scores range from 6 (least sick) to 40 (most sick). PELD scores may range lower or higher than MELD scores. Your score may go up or down over time as your liver disease either worsens or improves.
The chance to be transplanted at two years from listing was 65% and the risk of death was 17%. Patients with metabolic liver disease had the highest chance of undergoing liver transplantation.
While waiting on the list patients are advised to stay as healthy as possible by eating a healthy balanced diet, taking regular exercise, completely avoiding alcohol, not smoking etc. An average waiting time for a liver transplant is 149 days for adults and 86 days for children.
Before undergoing a liver transplant, patients are put on a national waiting list. This list collects medical information for every person waiting for a new liver, allowing doctors to prioritize those with the most severe need. It is maintained by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).
Overall, infections are the most frequent cause of mortality in males and females, though they are significantly higher in females. In our cohort, the main causes of mortality within the first year after transplantation were infections and surgical complications in both sexes.
A transplanted liver may be more sensitive to damage by chemicals, including alcohol. The transplantation team recommends that recipients avoid overuse of alcoholic beverages after transplantation.
The risk of rejection is highest in the first 6 months after a transplant. After this time, your body's immune system is less likely to recognise the liver as coming from another person. Chronic rejection happens in 2 in 100 patients.
People with cirrhosis of the liver have a life expectancy of between two and 12 years. If you have early-stage cirrhosis, treatment and lifestyle changes can help you live longer.
If rejection occurs, you may experience some mild symptoms, although some patients may continue to feel fine for a while. The most common early symptoms include a fever greater than 100° F or 38° C, increased liver function tests, yellowing of the eyes or skin, and fatigue.
Myth: I might have cirrhosis, but the liver will regenerate and heal itself naturally. Fact: The liver is a highly regenerative organ but only if it's still healthy enough to do so and doesn't have extensive scar tissue. Once cirrhosis is present, your liver's regeneration becomes very limited.
The duration of liver transplant surgery depends on how complex your case is. On average, the surgery can take between 6-12 hours.
Most people who need a liver transplant suffer from long-term liver disease (cirrhosis) that is advanced and irreversible. Usually you have liver disease for months or years before symptoms occur.
The cost of a liver transplant can vary depending on a person's location, medical charges, healthcare facility, insurance coverage, and other factors. Evidence from 2020 indicates that a liver transplant costs $878,400.
Living-Donor Liver Transplant Criteria
Once your liver functions are damaged beyond the body's capacity to regenerate (stage 4), you will need a full liver transplant. The UPMC liver transplant team will work with you to help find a suitable living donor and help you both through the process.
Once you are added to the national organ transplant waiting list, you may receive an organ fairly quickly or you may wait many years. In general, the average time frame for waiting can be 3-5 years at most centers and even longer in some geographical regions of the country.