Quality of life before and after orthotopic hepatic transplantation

Fifty-three nonalcoholic patients were evaluated prior to liver transplantation and again approximately 3 years after surgery using the Sickness Impact Profile and Social Behavior Adjustment Schedule. Test-retest scores reflected significant improvement across all health and psychosocial scales of the Sickness Impact Profile. On the Social Behavior Adjustment Schedule, significant improvement was observed on scales measuring disturbed behavior, social role performance, and burden. Comparisons between groups indicated that the liver transplant patients were still impaired on eight of the Sickness Impact Profile scales after transplant; however, the severity of disturbance was not considered to be clinically significant. No between-group differences were noted on the Social Behavior Adjustment Schedule. These results indicate that liver transplantation is associated with substantial improvement in life quality, although as a group, the patients undergoing this surgery do not recover to the level of functioning demonstrated by normal individuals.