The quality of life after liver transplantation.

The quality of life after liver transplantation ranges from poor to superior. The social and vocational outcome is dependent on the quality of homograft function and on the steroid doses necessary to maintain function. A good long-term prognosis is usually evident by 1 year postoperatively. The complete rehabilitation of so many patients has encouraged us to continue our efforts in this difficult field.     

Donor quality of life after living donor liver transplantation

Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for children and adults has gained widespread acceptance due to the severe organ shortage. LDLT provides potential recipients with timely transplantation, but this procedure engenders a potentially significant risk to the donor. This study analyzed medical, functional, and psychological donor outcomes after LDLT. Nineteen donors (mean age 33.9 +/- 12 years), who underwent hepatectomy for LDLT (13 right lobectomy for adult LDLT) from March 1998 to November 2002, were interviewed at a median of 13 months after donation (range, 2 to 58 months). According to the Clavien System classification, major complications occurred in three donors (16%), and minor in four (21%). The mean length of hospital stay was 5.7 +/- 1.6 days. Five patients (27%) needed rehospitalization. Complete recovery was achieved at a mean time of 8.5 +/- 3.5 weeks. All 19 donors were able to return to predonation activities. The donor's relationship to the recipient and to their families was improved after donation in all cases; 12 (63%) cited a positive psychological impact on their lives. About 90% would donate again and 84% would recommend donation to someone contemplating it. In conclusion, all donors are alive and well after donation and were able to return to their predonation occupation. Most of them felt that this experience changed their lives for the better and would donate again. Donor safety and quality of life should remain the priority in all donation processes.     

活体肝移植供者生活质量调查研究

目的调查活体肝移植供者的生活质量,了解影响该人群生活质量的因素。方法应用调查研究设计,采用中文版SF-36生活质量量表调查活体肝移植供者的生活质量。结果 18例供者躯体相关生活质量分为84.78±13.21,心理相关生活质量分为80.71±14.65,总分为165.49±22.63。在＂总体健康＂、＂活力＂维度上的得分中青年组高于中年组（P〈0.05）,在＂躯体疼痛＂维度上的得分男性组高于女性组（P〈0.05）。结论活体肝移植供者的生活质量与正常人群接近。供者年龄是影响术后生活质量的因素。     

Factors influencing change in health-related quality of life after liver transplantation

OBJECTIVE: To assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients following liver transplantation and the factors associated with HRQoL variation. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected for 60 consecutive patients activated for liver transplantation in a single hospital. Patients were classified according to the severity of the cirrhosis (Child-Pugh class) and disease etiology (alcoholic cirrhosis, viral cirrhosis, cholestatic diseases, and hepatocarcinoma). HRQoL was assessed by three different questionnaires: the Health Survey Short Form 36 (SF-36), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), and a specific-symptom questionnaire. Questionnaires were completed during the pre-operative period and six months after transplantation. RESULTS: In the pre-operative period, patients with Child A had higher mean levels of HRQoL than did those in other groups. At six months following transplantation, there were no significant differences among the groups, largely because gains obtained by patients with Child B and C were much greater than those attained by patients with Child A. Across the four etiological groups, there were significant differences in all domains of the three questionnaires, except SF-36-bodily pain and HAD-anxiety, prior to transplantation, because patients with hepatocarcinoma had much better HRQoL. After transplantation, there were no differences because patients with viral and alcohol-induced cirrhosis achieved greater gains with respect to the neoplastic group. During the pre-operative period, the scores for all areas of the SF-36 and for all groups were below the general population normalized score of 50 (except for patients with Child class A and those affected with hepatocarcinoma). Six-months post-transplantation, the scores on most of the domains remained below 50, except for certain mental areas in which higher scores were attained. CONCLUSIONS: Health-related quality of life is influenced by the severity and etiology of cirrhosis-patients with Child class C and those with alcoholic or viral cirrhosis have the poorest quality of life. There were no differences observed among the groups after the transplantation, as the patients with the lowest HRQoLs prior to surgery demonstrated greater gains in HRQoL associated with liver transplantation.     

Health-related quality of life after liver transplantation: a meta-analysis.

The goal of this study is to assess health-related quality of life (HRQL) after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Structured MEDLINE and Embase literature searches identified 5473 potentially relevant articles. Thirty-two additional references were collected from the bibliographies. Of the 5505 identified articles, 49 studies reporting data on 3576 transplant recipients met our inclusion criteria, which were an assessment of quality of life (QOL) in adult patients reported as either pretransplantation and posttransplantation data or with a comparison group and written in English. We combined posttransplantation QOL scores from 15 studies that reported data from the same QOL scales to assess the magnitude of the effect of OLT on QOL scales. We also performed a sign test on the 49 studies to evaluate the direction (positive or negative) of the effect of transplantation on QOL. Transplantation resulted in an improvement of 32% in Karnofsky scores, 11% in Sickness Impact Profile scores, and 20% to 50% in the domains of the Nottingham Health Profile. The sign test showed significant improvement in posttransplantation physical health (P <.0004), sexual functioning (P <.008), daily activities (P <.02), general HRQL (P <.02), and social functioning (P <.05), but not psychological health (P <.08). In general, the HRQL of the 3576 patients was impaired pretransplantation and improved posttransplantation. Transplant recipients reported large gains in those aspects of QOL most affected by physical health and smaller improvements in areas affected by psychological functioning.     

Donor quality of life before and after adult-to-adult right liver live donor liver transplantation.

Donor right hepatectomy for adult-to-adult live donor liver transplantation (ALDLT) is a major surgical operation for the benefit of the recipient. Justification of procedure mandates knowledge of the possible physical and psychological negative effects on the donor. We prospectively and longitudinally quantified donor quality of life using generic and condition-specific questionnaires up to 1 year. The generic questionnaires were the Karnofsky Performance Status scale and the Chinese (Hong Kong) version of the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Survey, which measures 8 health concepts: 4 physical components and 4 mental components. Within 1 year, 30 consecutive donors were included. These 11 male and 19 female donors (36.7% and 63.3%, respectively) had a median age of 35 years (range, 21-56 years). There was no donor mortality or major complications. Donor quality-of-life worsening was most significant in the first 3 postoperative months, particularly among the physical components. The physical and mental components returned to the previous levels in 6 to 12 months' time, though the Karnofsky performance scores were slightly lower at 1 year (P = 0.011). Twenty-six (86.7%) donors declared that they would donate again if there were such a need and it were technically possible. It was noticed that older donors were more likely to express unwillingness to donate again. In conclusion, the temporary worsening of donor quality of life substantiates ALDLT as an acceptable treatment modality.     

Risks of donation and quality of donors'' life after living donor liver transplantation

The purpose is to clarify risks of donation and quality of the donor's life after living-related donor liver transplantation (LDLTx). Sixty-eight donors were classified into four groups: lateral segment group (n = 30); left lobe group (n = 18); left lobe with the middle hepatic vein group (n = 11); right lobe group (n = 9). We investigated (i) the risks of donation, and evaluated the following: blood loss, operation time, postoperative liver function and duration of hospitalization; (ii) quality of donors' life: donors were mailed a structured questionnaire and the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), a generic measure assessing quality of life using eight scales. The results were: (i) there were no differences in liver function and duration of hospitalization between four groups; (ii) 48 donors (71%) responded. All donors returned to normalcy. The donors did not regret their decision to donate except two cases whose recipients had died. The donors' life was almost guaranteed regardless of the lobe we used as the graft.     

肝癌肝移植和肝切除的卫生经济学及生命质量评估

As the change of concept of health,the aim of medicine is not only to prolong life and improve the function of organs,but also to help patients to integrate to social life.Previous studies always pay much attention to clinical outcomes ineluding mortality,morbidity,long-term or short-term survival,but patients with liver cancer usually have long disease history and with background diseases such as liver cirrhosis.Traditional liver transplantation and liver resection ale both effective modalities for liver cancer,but liver resection has disadvantages of hish recurrence rate and repeated hepatic artery interventional therapy,and liver transplantation is high-cost.So the health economics and life quality of patients should not be ignored when comparing liver transplantation and liver resection.     

肝硬化患者肝移植术后生存质量的变化

目的调查肝硬化患者肝移植前后生存质量的变化情况。方法研究对象为在中山大学附属第三医院移植中心行首次肝移植手术的68例肝硬化患者。分别在术前,术后0～6个月、7～12个月、12个月以上对患者进行问卷调查。问卷采用健康调查简表(medical outcome study 36-item short form health survey,SF-36)与疾病专用调查表——慢性肝病问卷(chronic liver disease questionaire,CLDQ)。结果在肝移植术前,肝硬化患者的SF-36和CLDQ各维度评分均偏低。术后各时段SF-36的生理机能、躯体疼痛、一般健康、精力和CLDQ的腹部症状、乏力、全身症状、活动评分均较术前明显升高(均为P<0.05);与术前比较,术后0～6个月SF-36的生理职能、社会功能、情感职能、精神健康和CLDQ的情感功能、焦虑评分差异无统计学意义(均为P>0.05),但术后7～12个月、术后12个月以上述维度评分比较差异均有统计学意义(均为P<0.05);术后随着时间的推移,两表各维度得分逐步升高。结论肝硬化肝移植患者术后的生存质量与术前比较有明显改善,术后早期以生理功能方面改善明显,随时间的推移,生存质量其他指标如心理状态和社会功能也得到明显的改善。     

Donor quality of life after living donor liver transplantation: single-institute experience

Aim

Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been widely accepted because of the severe shortage of hepatic grafts. However, the healthy donor is exposed to risks of morbidity and mortality. In this study, we analyzed medical, functional, and psychological outcomes of donors after hepatectomy for liver donation.

Patients and methods

Among 41 donor hepatectomy cases for LDLT performed in our institute from January 1994 to May 2011, we reviewed the medical records (liver function tests, complications, etc) of 27 subjects who donated to recipients older than 12 years. We also performed a questionnaire survey based on the Japanese Short Form-36 version 2 Health Survey scales as a measure of physical and mental health, to which 31 subjects responded.

Results

Six of the 27 donors experienced prolonged jaundice. Their ratios of graft volume/standard donor liver volume (GV/SDLV) were higher than those of the 21 donors without prolonged jaundice (60.0% vs 41.5%). According to the questionnaires, social functioning among those having undergone emergency hepatectomy as well as general health perceptions declined in those with postoperative complications. Physical component summary declined among those having undergone emergency hepatectomy and with postoperative complications.

Conclusion

In liver donation from a living donor, massive hepatectomy should be avoided. A ratio of GV/SDLV around 50% seems reasonable. Donors with emergency transplantations or postoperative complications must be more carefully followed after donor hepatectomy.     

Influence of liver-disease etiology on long-term quality of life and employment after liver transplantation

The etiology of liver disease would expectedly affect health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) and employment after liver transplantation (LT), but studies are scarce. We sent the 15D HRQoL instrument and an employment questionnaire to all 401 adult LT patients alive in Finland in 2007. The response rate was 89% (n = 353; mean of eight yr since LT). In age‐adjusted analysis, patients transplanted for primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC; n = 56), primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC; n = 72), acute liver failure (ALF; n = 76), alcoholic cirrhosis (n = 38), or liver tumor (n = 22) exhibited comparable HRQoL, whereas the combined group of miscellaneous chronic liver diseases (n = 89) exhibited significantly higher HRQoL scores (p = 0.003). Among working‐aged patients (20–65 yr at LT), employment rates were highest in the PSC (56%) group and lowest in the ALF (39%) and PBC (29%) groups. In age‐adjusted logistic regression, patients with PSC or alcoholic cirrhotics were 2.4‐ and 2.5‐fold more likely to resume work after LT than patients with PBC. In conclusion, HRQoL scores late after LT were in general relatively high and comparable among disease groups. Patients with PSC or alcoholic cirrhosis were most likely to resume work after LT. The relatively low employment among patients with ALF may merit enhanced rehabilitation efforts.     

肝移植术改善良性终末期肝病病人生存质量的初步研究

目的 研究肝移植手术对良性终末期肝病病人生存质量的改变情况。方法 采用WHOQOL-BREF表对29例良性终末期肝病病人在肝移植术前、术后1～3个月、术后4～6个月以及术后6个月以上4个时间段进行生存质量的测评。结果 良性终末期肝病病人在生理领域、自身生存质量总的主观感受及对自身健康状况总的主观感受方面，肝移植术后的评分与术前相比差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。结论 肝移植术可以提高良性终末期肝病受者的生存质量。     

Pain and health related quality of life after heart, kidney, and liver transplantation

No study has focused particularly on the sensory and affective experience of bodily pain among transplanted patients. The aim of this study was to explore pain and other factors that influence health related quality of life (HRQOL) in heart, kidney, and liver transplant recipients during the first 2 yr after transplantation, and to define similarities and/or differences in the three groups. A total of 76 patients, 18-60 yr old, undergoing heart, kidney, or liver transplantation between 1995 and 1997 with a follow-up of 6-24 months were included. HRQOL and pain were investigated by using the Short-Form-36 items (SF-36), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD), and the Pain-O-Meter (POM). Overall, the patients show satisfactory HRQOL. There were no differences in experienced HRQOL 6 24 months after transplantation between kidney, liver, and heart transplant recipients except in the area of Role-Physical (RP). Fifty-three percent of all patients reported bodily pain. The most common locations were the hands, feet, and back, and sensory experiences were burning, stabbing, or dull pain. There was a correlation between number of rejections and total score for POM-VAS (p < 0.05) (rho = 0.47). There was also a correlation between the number of rejection episodes and the total pain intensity score for POM-WDS (p < 0.05) (rho = 0.48). Patients with pain scored higher in the area of depression (p < 0.05). Bodily pain is an important problem after organ transplantation, affecting daily living even in patients with good allograft function and it limits physical function. vitality, and general health.     

Organ survival after primary dysfunction of liver grafts in clinical orthotopic liver transplantation

Abstract In a retrospective analysis of 632 orthototopic liver transplant procedures performed between 1982 and 1997, the incidence of primary dysfunction (PDF) of the liver and its influence on organ survival were studied. Graft function during the first 3 postoperative days was categorized into four groups: (1) good (GOT max < 1000 U/l, spontaneous PT > 50 %, bile production > 100 ml/day); (2) fair (GOT 1000‐2500 U/l, clotting factor support < 2 days, bile < 100 ml/day); (3) poor (GOT > 2500 U/l, clotting factor support > 2 days, bile < 20 ml/day); (4) primary non‐function (PNF; retransplantation required within 7 days). The aim of this study was to evaluate graft survival comparing organs with PDF (poor function) and PNF vs organs with initial good or fair function. After a median follow‐ up of 45 months, initially good and fair function of liver grafts resulted in a significantly better long‐term graft survival compared with grafts with initially poor function or primary non‐function (if re‐transplanted) (P < 0.01). The Cox model revealed primary function as a highly significant factor in the prediction of long‐term graft survival (P < 0.0001). We conclude that these results confirm the hypothesis that primary graft function is of major importance for the long‐term survival of liver transplants. Patients with a poor primary function have the worst survival prognosis, which leads to the interpretation that these patients may be candidates for early retransplantation.