Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about liver transplants.

You can find written notes on this topic at zero tofinals.com slash liver transplant

or in the general surgery section of the zero to finals surgery book.

So let's get straight into it.

The most obvious source for a liver is from a healthy person that has just died.

When an entire liver is transplanted from a deceased donor to a recipient, it's known as an orthotropic

transplant.

Ortho means straight and tropic means in place.

The liver has the potential to regenerate as an organ.

Therefore, it's possible to take a portion of the liver from a living donor,

transplant it into a patient and have both regenerate to become two

fully functioning organs. This is known as a living donor transplant. It's also possible to

split the organ of a deceased person into two and transplant it into two different patients

and have them regenerate to their normal size in each recipient.

This is known as a split donation.

Let's talk about the indications for a liver transplant.

Indications for liver transplant can be split into two categories, acute liver failure or chronic liver failure.

They may also be used in specific cases of hepatocelular carcinoma. Acute liver failure usually requires an immediate liver transplant

and these patients are placed at the top of the transplant list.

The most common causes are acute viral hepatitis and paracetamal overdose.

Chronic liver failure patients can wait longer for their liver transplant and they're put on a standard transplant list.

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