The summaries are free for public
use. The Chronic Liver Disease
Foundation will continue to add and
archive summaries of articles deemed
relevant to CLDF by the Board of
Trustees and its Advisors.
Abstract Details
Improved Survival Outcomes in Patients with Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis and Alcoholic Liver Disease Following Liver Transplantation: An Analysis of 2002-2012 UNOS Data
Wong RJ1, Chou C, Bonham CA, Concepcion W, Esquivel CO, Ahmed A. Clin Transplant. 2014 Mar 22. doi: 10.1111/ctr.12364. [Epub ahead of print]
Author information
1Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA.
Abstract
There is an increasing trend of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease undergoing liver transplantation in the U.S. Our study utilized data from the 2002-2012 United Network for Organ Sharing registry to evaluate MELD era trends in U.S. liver transplantations focused on patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), hepatitis C (HCV), alcoholic liver disease, and HCC. Survival outcomes were stratified by liver disease etiology and compared across time periods using Kaplan Meier and Cox proportional hazards models. Patients with NASH were more likely to be women, had higher body mass index, and higher prevalence of diabetes and cardiac disease. However, overall long term survival was significantly higher in NASH and alcoholic liver disease patients (p < 0.001). Compared to HCV, NASH patients had significantly higher post-transplantation survival (HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.63-0.77), and lower risk of graft failure (HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.69-0.83). Despite having higher body mass index and higher prevalence of diabetes and cardiac disease, NASH patients had better post-liver transplantation survival compared to patients with HCV or HCC. Patients with alcoholic liver disease also had superior survival outcomes. However, these survival differences were limited to patients without HCC that underwent liver transplantation.