liver transplants

(Henry Ford Health System) Desperately needed adult living donor liver transplantation is a safe surgery for the donor, according to researchers at Henry Ford Hospital.

The study looked at donor safety from a single center over a period of 10 years and found there were no patient deaths and no life-threatening complications requiring ICU care.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Doctors dropped another bomb soon after telling Matthew Rosiello it was time for a liver transplant: The 21-year-old isn't likely to get one any time soon in his home state of New York.

Consider traveling to Ohio, they advised, where the wait's a lot shorter....

Paired donor exchange systems to avoid blood type incompatibility problems can work for liver transplants as they have for kidneys, researchers said.

Patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) are candidates for liver transplants, but may be at increased risk of complications from metabolic syndrome, researchers say.

BOSTON (MedPage Today) -- Liver transplants can work as well in extremely fat patients as in anyone else, although the surgery and post-transplant management is more complex, researchers said here.

One of the more bizarre stories to appear on Health Care Renewal just resurfaced.  To summarize, in June, 2008, we posted about the strange case of four Japanese men, allegedly affiliated with Yakuza criminal organizations, who received liver transplants from the UCLA Medical Center, apparently with some alacrity.

All likely paid full list prices for their procedures, and two later donated $100,000 each to the medical center.

CHICAGO (MedPage Today) -- Sending text message reminders may increase adherence to immunosuppressant medications in teens who have had liver transplants, a preliminary study showed.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an investigative report on the liver transplant program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center which provided a troubling view of some the issues affecting US health care.

Let me summarize the main points, as I would like to organize them, using quotes from the article, and my parenthetic comments.

Liver Transplantation Strategies at UPMC were Aggressive and Risky

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- In a new and disturbing twist on the obesity epidemic, some overweight teenagers have severe liver damage caused by too much body fat, and a handful have needed liver transplants....

We recently posted about the strange case of four Japanese men, allegedly affiliated with Yakuza criminal organizations, who received liver transplants from the UCLA Medical Center, apparently with some alacrity.

All likely paid full list prices for their procedures, and two later donated $100,000 each to the medical center.