A large number of diseases are capable of decreasing or interfering with the liver's function that's sufficient to threaten the life of the patient, like yourself. Most of these diseases are potentially treatable with liver transplantation. In adults, cirrhosis-which is a heavy accumulation of scar tissue due to the death of liver cells because of chronic viral hepatitis such as hepatitis C-is the most common disease for which liver transplantation is performed.

Various types of chronic and acute leukemia, aplastic anemia, lymphoma, myeloma, radiation poisoning, and some genetic diseases can be treated by stem cell transplantation.

There are a number of effective medications that exist to treat a variety of liver diseases, while for other liver diseases medical treatment of complications is really all we can do especially in patients with true end-stage liver disease. Treatment of complications may be all that is required if the liver is not failing and liver transplantation may not be required in many cases. Otherwise, medical treatment delays but does not eliminate the patient's need for a liver transplantation.

Stem cells are used today in the treatment of leukemia, breast cancer, lymphoma, Hodgkin's Disease, Aplastic Anemia, Sickle Cell Anemia, various other cancers, blood diseases, hereditary/genetic conditions and immune system disorders. There are approximately 1.4 million new cancer cases each year. As stem cell transplants become routine, they may be used to fight lung cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, AIDS and many genetic diseases.

Live donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is a procedure that involves a living donor giving a portion of his or her liver to a family member or close friend in need of a liver transplant.

The link below reflects all of the types of diseases that have treatments involving stem cell transplantation. Not all diseases amenable to stem cell transplantation have been treated specifically with cord blood stem cells. Some of the research currently being conducted using stem cells for treatment in cellular repair and regeneration are listed under Potential Future Stem Cell Applications.

Most cancers of the liver begin somewhere else in the body and spread to the liver. Most commonly, colon cancer but of course there are a number of other cancers that also can be metastatic to the liver, typically these are not curable with a liver transplant and thus these patients are not transplant candidates. Liver tumors that start in the liver, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, that have not spread to other organs can be cured by transplantation.

Liver transplantation is surgery to remove a diseased liver and replace it with a healthy one. This kind of surgery has been done for more than 38 years. Many people have had liver transplants and now lead normal lives.

Before liver transplantation, risks to the patient are mainly those who develop acute complications of liver failure or progressive complications of chronic liver failure that might render the patient an unacceptable risk for surgery. With surgery, the risks are those that are common to all forms of major surgery, or involve technical difficulties in removing the diseased liver, involve implanting the donor liver, and/or involve consequences of being without liver function briefly.

Other than supportive care there are few specific treatments for ciguatera poisoning, paralytic shellfish poisoning, neurotoxic shellfish poisoning, or amnesic shellfish poisoning. Antihistamines and epinephrine, however, may sometimes be useful in treating the symptoms of scombrotoxic fish poisoning. Intravenous mannitol has been suggested for the treatment of severe ciguatera poisoning.

Therapeutic Yoga can provide relief from chronic health problems. Some of the chronic ailments for which people have benefited from Yoga practice include: Skeleto-muscular disorders; arthritis and pains in the knees, shoulders and other joints, curvatures of the back and back pain, slipped discs and sciatic pain. If suffering from any medical condition, it is essential to inform your teacher.

Initially when the patient is in the intensive care unit, we closely monitor the patient's bodily functions, including the liver function, very carefully. Once the patient has been transferred to the floor nursing unit, we decrease the frequency of blood testing, allowing eating, and initiate physical therapy and activity to help regain muscle strength.

Routine follow-up after the few months from the time of liver transplantation consists of monthly blood tests. These blood tests and also a check of blood pressure by local physicians allows us to look for or prevent complications of liver transplantation. We ask the patients to return to CPMC (California Pacific Medical Center) once or twice a year at our local medical center where the transplant was performed.

Livers are donated, with the consent of the next of kin, from individuals who have had brain death. Brain death is usually the result of a head injury or a brain hemorrhage. When such a donor is identified, a network of skilled professionals connected by computers contact the transplant centers and makes arrangements to retrieve whatever organs may be donated.

Recovery after liver transplantation depends in part on how ill the patient was prior to surgery. Most patients need to count on spending a few days in the hospital in the intensive care unit and another few days on the ward about a minimum of 6 days in the hospital is our estimate. The range of days spent in the hospitalization is from five days to maybe even six weeks.

Acute Leukemias, Chronic Leukemias, Myelodysplastic Syndromes, Stem Cell Disorders, Myeloproliferative Disorders, Lymphoproliferative Disorders, Phagocyte Disorders, Liposomal Storage Diseases, Histiocytic Disorders, Inherited Erythrocyte Abnormalities, Congenital (Inherited) Immune System Disorders, Other Inherited Disorders, Inherited Platelet Abnormalities, Plasma Cell Disorders, Autoimmune Diseases, Brain Tumors, Ewing Sarcoma, Neuroblastoma, Ovarian Cancer, Renal Cell Carcinoma, Small-Cell .

The success of the transplant procedure depends on the expertise available at a given centre. In most well established centres across the world including Dr. S.Gupta's Unit at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, Delhi, when a liver transplant is performed before the patient becomes too ill with liver disease, it is successful in more than 90% patients and gives an excellent quality of life with a normal life expectancy for age.

Yes. To explore this option, review California Pacific Medical Center's special information on living-related liver transplantation and discuss this issue with your surgeon and your hepatologist. Yes, in general that is true, although every patient who has been involved with liver transplantation has often heard of that special case of someone who was able to stop the medication.