Liver transplantation: past accomplishments and future challenges

Liver transplantation has evolved from a rare and risky operation of questionable therapeutic value to the preferred treatment for an extensive list of end-stage liver diseases. Superior immunosuppression (cyclosporine), and improvements in surgery and anesthesia brought liver grafting to its current level of success. Nearly 60,000 liver transplants have been performed, and survival rates are very good; however liver grafting faces serious immediate and long term challenges, mainly due to the widening gap between donor supply and recipient demand. Increasing numbers of sick candidates, recurrent disease (especially hepatitis C) and recidivism rates after transplantation for alcoholic cirrhosis will force increasingly difficult decisions on candidate selection and priority listing of potential recipients. Although xenotransplantation may be the ultimate solution, it has its own specific set of biological and societal challenges - the full extent of which should be revealed in the next several years.