Hepatology 1987 May-Jun;7(3):484-9

Orthotopic liver transplantation for acute and subacute hepatic failure in
adults

Peleman RR, Gavaler JS, Van Thiel DH, Esquivel C, Gordon R, Iwatsuki S, Starzl
TE

Abstract
The role of liver transplantation in 29 patients with fulminant and subacute
hepatic failure due to a variety of different causes was examined by comparing
the outcome and a variety of "hospitalization" variables. Transplanted patients
(n = 13) were more likely to survive (p less than 0.05), were younger (p less
than 0.05) and spent more time in the hospital (p less than 0.025) than did
those who were not transplanted (n = 16). Despite spending a much longer time in
the hospital, transplanted patients spent less time in the intensive care unit
(p less than 0.05) in coma (p less than 0.01) and on a respirator (p less than
0.01) than did those not transplanted. Most importantly, the survival rate for
transplanted patients was significantly improved (p less than 0.05) as compared
to those not transplanted. We conclude that liver transplantation can be applied
successfully to the difficult clinical problem of fulminant and subacute hepatic
failure