OPTN/SRTR 2015 Annual Data Report: Liver

Several notable developments in adult liver transplantation in the US occurred in 2015. The year saw the largest number of liver transplants to date, leading to reductions in median waiting time, in waitlist mortality for all model for end-stage liver disease categories, and in the number of candidates on the waiting list at the end of the year. Numbers of additions to the waiting list and of liver transplants performed in patients with hepatitis C virus infection decreased for the first time in recent years. However, other diagnoses, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and alcoholic cirrhosis, became more prevalent. Despite large numbers of severely ill patients undergoing liver transplant, graft survival rates continued to improve. The number of new active candidates added to the pediatric liver transplant waiting list in 2015 was 689, down from a peak of 826 in 2005. The number of prevalent pediatric candidates (on the list on December 31 of the given year) continued to decline, to 373 active and 195 inactive candidates. The number of pediatric liver transplants peaked at 613 in 2008 and was 580 in 2015. The number of living donor pediatric liver transplants increased to its highest level, 79, in 2015; most were from donors closely related to the recipients. Pediatric graft survival rates continued to improve.