Case
A 45-year-old male was admitted to the hospital with severe alcoholic hepatitis. After several days of supportive care and medical therapy, the patient continued to show clinical decline. The patient is now admitted to the intensive-care unit with a Maddrey’s Discriminant Function score of 45 and a Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score of 38. He has no other significant medical comorbidities. On rounds, the patient’s wife, who is at the bedside, asks the team whether her husband would be a candidate for liver transplantation.
Dr. Jennifer Wang
Should this patient be offered liver transplantation? What medical and psychosocial factors should we consider? What ethical principles should we consider?
Medical considerations
With the advent of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), there has been a decline in the number of liver transplants performed for hepatitis C virus–related cirrhosis.1 Instead, alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) has become the most common indication for liver transplant in the United States.2 The 6-month abstinence requirement was a widespread practice within the transplant community that would exclude any patients who were actively drinking from being considered for liver transplant. However, data are inconclusive whether the 6-month rule serves as a predictor of future drinking or poor outcomes after liver transplant.3,4 Unfortunately, many patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis will not survive long enough to fulfill the 6-month requirement.5
Dr. Andrew Aronsohn
In 2011, Mathurin and colleagues led the pivotal European trial demonstrating the effectiveness of liver transplant as a rescue option for highly selected patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis.5 The selection criteria included patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis unresponsive to medical therapy, first liver-decompensating event, presence of close supportive family members, absence of severe psychiatric disorders, and agreement by patients to adhere to lifelong total alcohol abstinence. The study showed that the 6-month survival rate of patients who received early liver transplant was 77%, compared with 25% among those who did not. The positive outcomes were subsequently replicated at several centers in the United States, and this led to a wider adoption of early liver transplant for severe alcoholic hepatitis.6-8
