New liver unlikely to suffer alcohol damage

NEW YORK, June 1 (Reuters) Most people who have had a liver transplant because of cirrhosis caused by heavy drinking are not likely to experience recurrent alcohol-related liver disease, French researchers report.

Liver transplantation in patients with alcoholic cirrhosis improves survival, note Dr. Jerome Dumortier and colleagues at Hopital Edouard Herriot, Lyon. However, some investigators have suggested that alcohol recidivism might also have a substantial clinical impact.

To investigate further, the researchers took a look back at 305 patients who had had liver transplantation at their institution because of alcoholic cirrhosis.

Thirty-seven of the patients (12.1 per cent) resumed drinking alcohol. At 1 year, 96.9 per cent were alcohol free and at 10 years, 81.3 per cent were still alcohol-free.

The global survival rate was 92.6 per cent at 1 year and 73.4 per cent at 10 years. This, the investigators note, is similar to the 88.8 per cent 1-year survival and the 74.7 per cent 10-year survival seen in patients who received transplants because of other types of cirrhosis not related to alcohol abuse.

The researchers note that only about 3 per cent of deaths were associated with alcoholic cirrhosis.

Reuters SS DB0845