Liver Transplant Cost: Benefits and Risks
Liver Transplant Cost, benefits, and RisksLiver transplantation is the surgery of replacing a diseased liver with a healthier one of another person. You can transplant the part of the damage or the whole liver. Most of the time, a healthy liver will be taken from an organ donor after death. Sometimes a family member will donate a liver to their loved ones.
The liver is the only organ in the body to grow back to its normal size after donation. You cannot live without a liver. If your liver stops working, you should replace it. Several liver conditions cause liver disease. Liver transplantation is recommended if you are at the end stage of liver disease. Here are some of the benefits and risk factors of liver transplantation:
Procedure
The liver transplantation procedure takes up to 12 hours. It starts with the separation of the liver from the abdomen. The blood vessels and bile duct are separated to remove the diseased liver from the body. The new liver will be attached by reconnecting the portal veins and vena cava. The patient will require a large amount of blood during transplantation. The patient will be placed under close monitoring and scheduled for serious follow-ups.
Transplantation Benefit
Liver transplantation helps in saving the life of people in the end stage of liver disease. It increases the life stage of the people. Living liver donors can feel good when they come to know they play a huge impact on other person’s life. The person who suffers from chronic liver failure may also be benefitted from liver transplantation. You can have a normal life after the transplantation.
Liver Cirrhosis
People who suffer from liver cirrhosis will undergo liver transplantation. Cirrhosis can cause a major problem in the liver and damage it over 20 to 30 years. The slow progress of the disease initially shows normal liver function. Consulting a liver specialist in the early stage can prevent your liver from transplantation. After transplantation, you can keep it in control for several years. Vaccines for hepatitis B and C are the long-term treatment for fatty liver.
Liver Cancer
Liver cancer patients will be highly benefited from liver transplantation. Not everyone with liver cancer needs transplantation. Only 10% of people will need transplantation. The survival rate for people with liver cancer and liver failure is a few months, but the transplantation can help the people to have a normal life and life expectancy. Children who undergo liver transplantation will have normal growth like other people. The success rate is based on the condition of the patient.
Acute Liver Failure
The person with acute liver failure leads to liver transplantation. It is caused to a young person who has no existing liver disease. The sudden liver failure is due by hepatitis A and E, and sometimes it is caused due to the side effects of medication.
This can cause life-threatening to people in a few days. Only 5 % of people will need transplantation and others who found it in the early stage will be cured by the medicines.
Life after Transplantation
Liver transplantations are generally successful, and most people will return to normal activities after a few days of transplantation. After transplantation, you must take medicines daily to stop your body from attacking the new liver for the rest of your life.
You should do a regular check-up to see how your new liver is working. You should eat healthily and exercise regularly. Most people will live up to 20 years after transplantation.
Risk Factors
Liver transplantation is a major surgery that can have some risk factors. A serious complication can occur during surgery or after a few years of transplantation. Some major risks and difficulties of liver transplantation are your body can have the chance of rejecting the new liver, the new liver can result in graft failure, there can be a blockage of the leak in any one of the bile ducts, and there can be side effects of medicine that results in a risk of infection.
Infection and Organ damage
A liver transplant can have a basic risk. The surgeons have experience with several complex cases. On rare occasions, there can be a complication during liver transplantation, which medical treatments can cure. Bile leakage can occur in living liver donors, and doctors can heal it by placing a tube in the liver.
Some can get an infection in the place of surgery. If this happens, the transplant team will watch the patient’s condition and do treatment to reduce health issues. In rare cases, some people will be affected by organ damage or even death.
Blood Pressure Issues
Blood pressure problems happen in 40 to 80 patients in every 100 transplants. Overweight and steroid medicines have the chance of increasing blood pressure. You need to take medication to lower your blood pressure. The majority of a patient will develop hypertension after liver transplantation.
Hypertension is increased by corticosteroids, obesity, and immune suppressants. Those people will require anti-hypertensive medical therapy. Some people can be affected by kidney function, and they will require temporary dialysis in the early stage of operation.
High Successful Rate
Liver transplantation is a long process. It lasts from 8 to 12 hours. Over 90% of people will have successful transplantation. The risk level depends on the condition of the patient during transplantation. You should understand the risk of morality because liver diseases are higher, and successful transplantation will increase life expectancy. You should be confident that you will have a normal life after the transplantation.
Cost of Liver Transplant
Liver transplant cost depends on various factors such as the type of hospital, condition of the patient, and donor availability. Countries like India and Turkey offer cheaper liver transplant packages for international patients.
Final Thoughts
It is necessary to have a regular check-up for your body. Regular checkups can decrease the risk factor and speed up the recovery. You should eat healthily and take your medicines regularly to have a healthy life
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