Long‐term results after liver transplantation

Summary Liver transplantation (OLT) has become a successful surgical therapy for terminal liver failure. We here report about long‐term results of OLT in a single center over a period of 15 years. Between 1988 and 2002, 1365 adult OLTs were performed. Mean follow‐up was 103 ± 56 months. Main indications for OLT were viral‐induced cirrhosis (27.1%), alcoholic liver disease (21%), tumors (15.7%) and cholestatic liver disease (14.6%). Retransplantation was necessary in 120 (9.6%) patients because of initial nonfunction (26.9%), recurrence of underlying disease (20.2%), acute and chronic rejection (16.8%) or thrombosis of the hepatic artery (16.8%). 275 patients (22.1%) died. Causes of death included recurrence of disease (32.1%), infections (21.8%), de novo malignancies (13.5%) and cardiovascular disease (11.6%). Patient survival after OLT was 91.4%, 82.5%, 74.7% and 68.2% after 1, 5, 10 and 15 years, and graft survival was 85.8%, 75.3%, 67.3% and 61.7% after 1, 5, 10 and 15 years, respectively. Patient survival after retransplantation was 81.6%, 68.8% and 57.1% and 48.0% after 1, 5, 10 and 15 years. This analysis reveals excellent long‐term results after OLT achieved in a single center.