Daegu Catholic Univ. Medical Center Organ Transplant Center

Liver transplant

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Liver transplant

What is liver transplant?

Liver is an essential organ for maintaining life and, due to its complex and versatile functions, there is currently no device that can replace it. Therefore, the only treatment available for patients with end-stage liver failure is to receive transplant of a healthy liver from another person. Liver transplant refers to surgical operation that removes all of the original liver in the patient and replace it with a healthy liver. It was first performed in the US in 1963 and 1988 in South Korea. At Daegu Catholic Univ. Medical Center, the first liver transplant was performed in March 2003 and partial liver transplant from a living donor in 2005, and, currently, the hospital actively performs the procedure for applicable patients.

Liver plant recipients

Main adult recipients of liver transplant are those with end-stage liver failure such as heptatocirrhosis and liver cancer, and, for children, those with congenital cirrhosis, biliary atresia, metabolic liver failure, and fulminant hepatic failure. Transplantation is decided after examining and analyzing individual characteristics of each patient.

Liver transplant procedure

(Partial) Transplant from a living donor

Liver transplant from a living donor is a technique that transplants a part of the donor’s liver after removing the entire liver of the recipient.
Unlike other organs, livers can regenerate and grow and, therefore, partial liver donation does not cause harm in everyday life. Within 2 to 3 weeks after the operation, the remaining liver volume approximately doubles and, after about a year, the liver grows to the original size.
In South Korea, due to lack of organs from brain-dead donors, 80% to 85% of overall liver transplants rely on living donors.

Donor and recipient examination (Dept. of Surgery)
Review of donation suitability. Approval by Korea Network for Organ Sharing (KONOS)
Hospitalization. Close examination of recipient
Transplantation based on examination results

Transplant from a brain-dead donor

This technique implies the entire liver of the brain-dead donor is transplanted to the recipient.

Recipient examination (Dept. of Gastroenterology, Dept. of Surgery)
Basic checkup of recipient for transplantation (Dept. of Surgery)
Recipient examination and registration at the Organ Transplant Center and, subsequently, at KONOS
Hospitalization and examination of brain-dead patient
Review of the examination results. Operation.
(For registration, fees will be charged.)

Post-transplantation management

After the operation, patients will be hospitalized for 3 to 4 weeks and, after discharge, need to visit the hospital on a regular basis. Also, to prevent rejection caused by transplant, all patients are required to take immunosuppressant every day. In addition, patients who had hepatitis B before the surgery will need to receive hepatitis B antibody injection on a regular basis in order to prevent relapse.

Hepatitis B antibody injection is covered by National Health Insurance and 10% of outpatient care expenses are paid by the patients.

Liver transplant costs

The operation costs for liver transplant vary according to the disease. The entire process from the operation until discharge costs, on average, 20million KRW; however, the price varies according to the room and hospitalization period.

For donors, the pre-operation examination costs about 800,000 KRW and surgery 5million KRW. After the surgery, for the first 6 months, about 300,000KRW to 400,000KRW per month is paid for the medication, examination, and hepatitis B vaccination, among others, and, after 6 months, 200,000KRW to 300,000KRW per month. After 2 to 3 years, about 100,000KRW to 200,000KRW is required per month.