Alcoholism and Orthotopic Liver Transplantation

Orthotopic Liver Transplantation for Alcoholic Cirrhosis

“…9 Howeyer, there has been no consensus that the ability to treat patients dying of Laennec's cirrhosis implies an obligation to do SO. 1,10,11 To the extent that objections to liver transplantation are moralistic, these undermine the modern understanding of alcoholism including the recognition that this is a treatable disease, not a vice. 1 How liver transplantation fits into the continuum of treatment and if it can be afforded by society should be the important questions.…”

“…1 To help judge the merit of such negative attitudes, we have examined the fate of 56 alcoholic recipients of liver transplants treated between 1963 and July 1987, with an emphasis on patients treated after the introduction of cyclosporine-steroid therapy in 1979. 2 …”