Anaesthesia for liver transplantation--a model for the anaesthetic management of end-stage hepatic failure.

Advances in the medical and surgical management of cirrhosis have brought an increasing number of such patients to the operating theatre. Although most anaesthesiologists will not directly participate in the care of patients during hepatic transplantation, the considerations involved in their anaesthetic management pertain to all patients with severe hepatic disease. Using orthotopic hepatic homo-transplantation as a model the physiologic changes and anaesthetic implications have been discussed.