Liver and intestine transplantation in the United States, 1996-2005

The number of liver transplants performed yearly has slowly and steadily increased over the last 10 years, reaching 6441 procedures in 2005. The number of living donor liver transplants performed rose steadily from 1996 to 2001, when it peaked at 519; since 2003 there have been approximately 320 such procedures performed each year. The continual increase in the size of the waiting list for a liver transplant, which peaked in 2001 at 14 897 patients, was interrupted in 2002 by the implementation of the allocation system based on the model for end-stage liver disease and pediatric end-stage liver disease (MELD/PELD). Activity in all areas of intestinal transplantation continues to increase. One-year patient and graft survival following intestine-alone transplantation now seem to be superior to outcomes following liver-intestine transplantation. Other topics covered here include the recent 'Share 15' component of the MELD allocation system; liver transplantation following donation after cardiac death; simultaneous liver-kidney transplantation and waiting list and post-transplant outcomes for both liver and intestine transplantation, broken out by a variety of clinical and demographic factors.