Criteria for hepatic transplantation in cirrhosis.

Among the patients considered for hepatic transplantation, cirrhosis should be theoretically the best indication. Results so far are disappointing because the patients who have undergone a transplantation had end stage liver disease. When gastrointestinal bleeding, renal failure, coagulopathy and encephalopathy are used as criteria, one can accurately select patients who will die from cirrhosis within one month. Our results for those who had a liver graft in this group are poor. Criteria were then selected to identify a less dramatically ill group of patients with cirrhosis. These patients have residual poor liver function after surviving acute severe complications and have a spontaneous survival of less than one year. The results of liver transplantation in two patients in this group are encouraging.