Liver transplant

[Peeps7]

Sorry second post this week, my husband has been offered a liver transplant by his surgeon, age 79, but otherwise fit and healthy (!) has anybody had any experience of same or thoughts please?

[AyrshireK]

Is he being seen currently at a transplant centre? If he is and this is a transplant surgeon speaking then it sounds a good plan. However, if this is just talk of putting him forward for T/P assessment then be prepared for a rigorous assessment with a multi-disciplinary team who may or may not go for your surgeons suggestion.

It would be great to hear of a 79 year old going through the procedure, advanced age is not an out and out contraindication if the patient is otherwise fit enough. But it is major surgery and can be a slow rocky road.

Good luck to him and yourself.

Katie xx

[Peeps7 in reply to AyrshireK]

Hi Katie,

Thank you for your amazingly constructive posts, your first regarding diet and nutrition is truly helpful and very much appreciated. We are both lucky enough to be members of BUPA and so Peter has been under his particular surgeon for the past three years since diagnosis and he would carry out the transplant at the London Bridge Hospital Liver Unit. Having been quite horrified at the thought initially I think we are both leaning towards surgery. I would be very interested to hear more about your experiences and will keep you posted.

Thank you so much, Anne xx

[AyrshireK in reply to Peeps7]

That's puzzling as I was lead to believe there is no private route to transplant in the UK and that it all has to go through the NHS Organ Transplant system. Just had a look at the London Bridge Hospital website and see that there is a drop down menu for liver transplant but it doesn't seem to open. Just read a BBC report from 2009 about the government banning private transplant as foreign nationals were paying to access NHS transplant services & UK donated organs to much uproar.

Oh, can of worms well and truly opened as there is also a page for the Royal Free Hospital London for Private Patients and goes on about liver transplantation. royalfreeprivatepatients.co...

I also see Kings released a statement in 2013 saying they only give donations of UK organs to non UK, non EU citizens if the organ is unusable on an NHS or EU patient. Yeah right so the Multi-Billionaire from the Middle East, Russia, Far East or similar only gets one that is really substandard ( I don't think so!!) kch.nhs.uk/news/public/news...

Strange one if your surgeon/hospital is saying this service is available - I see they mention live liver donation so perhaps that's how they access donor organs but even that sounds a bit 'dodgy' ........ under NHS only close familial matches are considered for liver transplantation, altruistic liver donation not yet very common.

Bit baffled. Good luck though if it is possible - sorry to sort of hi-jack your thread, just didn't think Private Transplants were going on in UK. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/...

Katie

[Chelle_ in reply to AyrshireK]

Katie, I agree with you and the UK private transplants, however I have heard from further afield people being on there relevant countries donor list and being called up for donation and that then subsequently being a split liver situation. Don't get me wrong messes with the lines of being ethically correct, however would explain why some people are getting tx rather quicker than others....

I do fully support everyone being on the donor register and having to request to be removed and I think we should adopt the same here, however being made to give up part of an organ just because your a match I think is a little wrong...

Anne, I wish you and Peter well, regardless of how you get the liver required, living a good & healthy life is important, especially when it comes to loved ones...xx

[RodeoJoe in reply to AyrshireK]

So my own experience was that I had private health care and was able to use that at King's for the assessment. I was very ill and the ward was otherwise full. It saved me an estimated 10 days wait which at the time felt like it could have made a big difference. There was certainly no separate private transplant list route, and when I went for surgery the only options available were NHS. Even to stay on another ward was not considered because that's where the consultants did their rounds.

The NHS treatment was gold star, even had my own room.

[Denise15]

My experience of liver transplant very positive and life extending I hope ( am 58 ) I did have complications s though as I had several strokes- not sure if the two are related but would do it again x

[Juamcc]

What is his liver disease? How is it being financed? I'm 79 and function well. I would like to have a transplant if I thought I was dying soon.