Organ Transplantation Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Organ Transplantation, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery.

Simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation: evaluation to decision making.

Davis CL, Feng S, Sung R, Wong F, Goodrich NP, Melton LB, Reddy KR, Guidinger MK, Wilkinson A, Lake J

Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. cdavis@u.washington.edu

Questions about appropriate allocation of simultaneous liver and kidney transplants (SLK) are being asked because kidney dysfunction in the context of liver failure enhances access to deceased donor organs. There is specific concern that some patients who undergo combined liver and kidney transplantation may have reversible renal failure. There is also concern that liver transplants are placed prematurely in those with end-stage renal disease. Thus to assure allocation of transplants only to those truly in need, the transplant community met in March 2006 to review post-MELD (model for end-stage liver disease) data on the impact of renal function on liver waitlist and transplant outcomes and the results of SLK.

Published 13 June 2007 in Am J Transplant, 7(7): 1702-9.
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