[Third consensus conference on liver transplantation. Lyon, France, 19 and 20 January 2005]

The indications of liver transplantation have gradually expanded since the first procedure was carried out in the early 1980s. Endorsed by the Bethesda consensus conference in 1983, transplantation is now the standard therapy for patients with terminal liver failure. The second consensus conference, held in Paris in 1993, refined the indications and contraindications of liver transplantation, and also identified several controversial settings in which there was a major risk of recurrence of the underlying liver disease. In the space of barely a decade, the latter situations became far more frequent, and the time came to redefine the indications of this procedure, which was still restricted by the lack of donors. In 2005, under the aegis of the Académies françaises de Chirurgie et de Médecine and chaired by Professor Didier Sicard, a third consensus conference was held in Lyon, France. The jury was asked the following five questions: How to optimize the management of patients transplanted for viral hepatitis? When is liver transplantation indicated for alcoholic cirrhosis? Which types of liver cancer qualify for transplantation? What place for living donors in liver transplantation? and What new indications for liver transplantation?