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What are the survival rates after liver transplantation?
Liver transplantation is a highly complex surgery with many potential complications, prompting many patients to wonder about short and long term survival after the procedure.
The outcomes can vary depending on several factors such as the underlying cause of liver disease, the patient’s overall health and the quality of the donor organ.
Liver transplantation is a life-saving procedure and luckily has a high success rate. The one-year survival rate typically exceeds 90%, while the five-year survival rate is generally around 80%. However, survival can be influenced by the underlying cause of liver disease.
Certain chronic liver diseases such as primary biliary cirrhosis, and auto-immune hepatitis pose excellent long-term survival rates. On the other hand, conditions like liver tumors may not exhibit as high a long-term survival rate.
Regardless of the underlying cause, the quality of the donor organ including factors like donor age, and organ function also plays a key role in determining the success of the transplant. A young, healthy and well-matched donor organ is associated with better outcomes in liver transplantation.
Additionally, the overall health of the transplant recipient plays a significant role in post-transplant survival.
The age of the patient can be a factor in survival as well. Older patients may face lower survival rates compared to younger patients.
Lastly, post-transplant survival is influenced by how compliant the patient is with their post-transplant care, which includes taking all the prescribed medication, living a healthy lifestyle, and attaining all follow-up appointments.
