— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate
For many people with hepatitis B, serious liver disease does not develop until they are in their 60s, but are older patients good candidates for a liver transplant?
Doctors in China found they are. According to a report published in the October issue of the journal ofHepatobiliary & Pancreatic Diseases International, doctors compared survival in 60 transplant patients who were age 60 and older against 305 transplant patients who were younger than 60.
Survival at 1, 3, 5 and 8 years were 81.6%, 71.6%, 66.7% and 63.3% respectively for the older group and 84.9%, 77.7%, 70.8% and 65.6% for the younger group. Only when the older patients had kidney damage did they fare worse than the younger patients following transplant surgery.
"Liver transplantation is safe and feasible for patients with HBV-related end-stage liver disease aged over 60 years," they wrote. "Older patients with renal insufficiency should undergo transplantation earlier than younger patients."
Labels: liver transplant, older patients
