Liver transplantation at King Fahad national guard hospital Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

Liver disease is a major medical problem in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and is mostly due to viral hepatitis.

Liver transplantation is the only option for patients with end-stage liver disease offering good long-term survival.

The first liver transplant at the King Fahad National Guard Hospital was performed in February 1994 and since then, 40 liver transplants have been performed on 37 patients.

Immunosuppression consisted of prednisone combined with cyclosporin (Neoral) or FK 506.

Maintenance immunosuppression was with the use of cyclosporin or FK 506 as monotherapy.

All, but one patient, survived the surgical procedure; there were no cases of primary non-function; acute cellular rejection occurred in 12 patients all of whom responded to steroids.

Pneumonia and biliary sepsis occurred in 12 patients each.

A total of 10 patients died, with sepsis being the leading cause of death.

The overall graft survival was 73%.

Donor shortage continues to be a major limiting factor.