Author/Editor		Gazič, Barbara; Luzar, Boštjan; Ferlan-Marolt, Vera
Title		Liver transplantation in patients with fulminant hepatitis. Data from the Institute of pathology Ljubljana
Type		članek
Source		In: Ferlan-Marolt V, Luzar B, editors. Viral hepatitis. Proceedings of the 35th memorial meeting to professor Janez Plečnik with international participation; 2004 Dec 2-3; Ljubljana. Ljubljana: Faculty of medicine, Institute of pathology,
Publication year		2004
Volume		str. 274-80
Language		eng
Abstract		Background. The commonest indication for liver transplantation is the end stage of chronic liver diseases and approximately 10-20% of all liver transplantations are carried out for fulminant hepatitis represented clinically as acute liver failure (ALF). The etiology of acute or fulminant hepatic failure shows marked variations worldwide. In most of the western world drug-induced hepato-toxicity is the main reason of the ALF. In the Far East, fulminant hepatic failure is mainly related to viral hepatitis (HAV and HBV). Material and methods. We evaluated 63 liver transplantations performed between January 1998 and October 2004 in the University Clinical Centre in Ljubljana and analyzed clinico-pathological data of the patients. The aim of the study was to asses the the etiology and outcome of the patients with fulminant hepatitis who underwent liver transplantation. Results. Only in seven cases (six women and one man) the indication for liver transplantation was ALE All of the patients were relatively young and previously healthy persons except one patient with preexisting Willson's disease. Two young girls had fulminant hepatitis of HBV etiology. Other cases belonged to the group of rare causes of ALF. In the last seven years we had no liver transplantation because of acetaminophen hepato-toxicity. Conclusion. Although the histology of fulminant hepatitis was rather the same in all the observed cases, presented by massive confluent necroses of liver parenchyma, there were usually some discrete histological findings which could be the clue for the diagnosis Nevertheless, there are always some cases of indeterminate etiology in almost all studies of ALF. Future research should focus on them.
Descriptors		HEPATITIS, VIRAL, HUMAN LIVER FAILURE, ACUTE LIVER TRANSPLANTATION HEPATITIS B HEPATITIS A BIOPSY