Elderly versus young liver transplant recipients: patient and graft survival

The indications for organ transplantation continue to broaden with advances in perioperative care and immunosuppression. The elderly have especially benefited from this progress; advanced age is no longer considered a contraindication to transplantation at most centers. Although numerous studies support the use of renal allografts in older patients, only a few centers have addressed this issue as it pertains to liver transplantation. Published studies have revealed that operative course, length of hospitalization, and incidence of perioperative complications among patients older than 60 years of age are comparable with their younger adult counterparts. In our study we analyzed the clinical experiences of two centers with primary cadaveric orthotopic liver transplantations comparing patients older than 63 with patients younger than 40 years of age, suggesting no difference in unadjusted survival with age stratification. Now age cannot be considered to be a contraindication to liver transplantation.