Liver and pancreatic transplantation

Makins, Helen J.; Shaw, Steve; Agarwal, Banwari

doi:10.1016/j.mpaic.2009.02.003

« Previous Next »Anaesthesia & intensive care medicine
Volume 10, Issue 5 , Pages 235-239, May 2009

Liver and pancreatic transplantation

Helen J Makins FRCA is a Specialist Registrar in Anaesthesia, currently working at Cheltenham General Hospital, UK. Conflicts of interest: none declared

Steve Shaw BDS LDS RCS MBBS FRCA is lead Consultant in Intensive Care at the Royal Free Hospital, London, UK. Research interests include liver disease and nosocomial infections. Conflicts of interest: none declared

Banwari Agarwal MD FRCA MRCP EDIC is a Consultant in Critical Care Medicine at the Royal Free Hospital. His clinical interests include management of acute liver failure and liver transplantation. Conflicts of interest: none declared

Abstract

Transplantation medicine is a complex, multi-faceted area, requiring the involvement of many specialist teams. The ultimate goal is to improve the length and quality of life in a patient with an irreversible terminal disease. Because resources are limited, the greatest challenges lie in prioritizing patients, exploring ways to enhance the donor pool and maximizing the outcome from available organs. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the perioperative aspects of liver and pancreatic transplantation in adults. A detailed account of the different surgical techniques, the various immunosuppression regimes and the ever-changing criteria for organ allocation are beyond the scope of this article and will therefore be mentioned only briefly.

Keywords: anaesthetic, liver, pancreas, perioperative, transplant