In some organ failures, the patient can survive with some kind of temporary solution. For example, in heart failure, the heart can be operated with the latest technological devices which are called an artificial heart. In kidney failure as well, the survival rates are very high with Dialysis treatment. Unfortunately, the circumstances is not that much promising when it is liver failure.
The patient at the end-stage of liver failure has a 10% survival rate without liver transplant. If liver transplant is applied on the same patient, the possibility of survival increases up to 90%. Therefore, it can be proclaimed that liver transplantation is inevitable for survival.
Who can be the organ donors for a liver transplant?
Liver transplants can be done in two ways, either from a living donor or from cadaver.
Liver Transplantation from Cadaver: It can occur after the families donate the organs of patients who develop brain death due to traffic accidents, brain hemorrhage, heart attack, etc. In order to execute the transplantation, the donor should not had any infectious disease, cancer or liver disease. The liver, which is removed surgically under suitable conditions and protected by special methods, is transplanted to the recipient through another operation. Unfortunately, there are long waiting lists because organ donation from cadavers is not enough in number for the recipients waiting.
Liver Transplant with Live Donor: is the type of surgery performed with the piece of liver taken from relatives of people who are in need of organ transplantation
What are the advantages of liver transplant from live donors?
Most patients waiting for transplantation from the cadaver become worse while waiting for their turn to come, and even some patients die while awaiting. In addition, because of the long waiting time for the cadaveric organ, the worsening of the general condition of the patient increases the risk of complications in the early postoperative period and reduces the survival success after transplantation.
The main advantage of live donor liver transplantation is the short time of organ transfer to the recipient instead of waiting for a long period of time. In other words, when the recipient needs an urgent transplant, surgery can be done from the live donor without waiting for the organ list.