Liver Transplant Evaluation: Heart, Lung, Kidney and Infection Checks Before Listing

The folder arrives before the appointments do. Inside: a schedule that runs to three pages, the names of a cardiologist, a pulmonologist, a nephrologist, a dentist, a social worker and a dietitian, and a line that says “please bring all medication bottles.” For many people with advanced liver disease, that folder is the first tangible sign that a transplant is being considered seriously, and it can feel less like hope than like an exam they never studied for.

The liver transplant evaluation process is, in fact, an exam of sorts, but not the kind you can fail by being unprepared. Its purpose is narrower and kinder than it looks: to answer one question, honestly. Can this body, right now, survive a long operation and years of immune-suppressing medicine, and will a new liver actually solve the problem?

Answering that takes a lot of looking. What follows explains what each check is for, what the results tend to mean, and why some people are listed quickly while others are asked to wait.

What is the liver transplant evaluation process actually for?

A liver transplant replaces a failing liver with a healthy one from a deceased or living donor. It is major surgery, typically lasting many hours, followed by lifelong medicines that dampen the immune system so the body does not reject the new organ. Those two facts drive everything in the evaluation.

The first fact means the team needs to know how the heart, lungs and kidneys will cope with hours of anesthesia, large shifts in blood volume and the moment the new liver is connected to the circulation. The second fact means any hidden infection or cancer becomes far more dangerous once the immune system is suppressed, so it must be found and dealt with beforehand.

There is a third purpose that patients sometimes miss. Donor livers are scarce. The evaluation is also how a program judges whether a transplant will genuinely help this particular person, or whether the underlying disease, another illness, or circumstances at home would undo the benefit. Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus both describe the evaluation as a balance: how sick is the liver, how strong is the rest of the body, and is the person able to follow a demanding lifelong care plan?

None of this is a judgment about worth. A person can be declined for listing because their heart is too weak this year and be accepted after treatment the next. The process is designed to be revisited. Understanding that it is a snapshot, not a verdict, is the single most useful reframe for anyone opening that folder.

Put plainly, the evaluation exists to make the transplant safer for the person receiving it and to make sure a scarce organ goes where it can do the most good.

What happens during a transplant evaluation, step by step?

Most programs follow a similar sequence, though the order and pace vary with how ill someone is. A person already in hospital with acute liver failure may be assessed in a compressed few days; an outpatient with stable cirrhosis may be scheduled across several weeks.

The first step is a referral and record review. Hepatologists (liver specialists) confirm the diagnosis, review previous imaging and biopsies, and calculate severity scores from blood tests. Then comes a long clinic visit, often a full day or more, that Cleveland Clinic describes as a mix of consultations and testing. You will typically meet the transplant surgeon, a hepatologist, a transplant coordinator, a social worker, a dietitian, a pharmacist and often a psychologist or psychiatrist.

Testing follows in blocks. Blood work looks at liver and kidney function, clotting, blood type, blood counts and a panel of infections. Imaging of the abdomen, usually CT or MRI with contrast, maps the liver, its blood vessels and any tumors. Heart and lung tests are covered in detail in the next sections. Cancer screening appropriate for age and sex is completed or updated. A dental examination looks for infection in the mouth.

The psychosocial assessment is not an afterthought. Social workers ask about housing, transport, caregivers, alcohol and other substance use, and how medicines have been managed in the past. This is because the first year after transplant involves frequent visits and strict medication timing, and the team needs to know what support is realistically available.

Finally, every result is presented at a selection committee, a multidisciplinary meeting where the team votes on listing. You are usually told the outcome by your coordinator, along with any conditions attached. The committee, not any single clinician, owns that decision.

How the heart is checked before liver transplant listing

Advanced liver disease changes the circulation in ways that are easy to miss in a clinic chair. Blood vessels dilate, the heart pumps a larger volume at rest, and blood pressure often runs low. Under anesthesia those adaptations can turn into instability, which is why cardiac testing is one of the largest blocks in the liver transplant evaluation process.

Everyone gets an electrocardiogram (a tracing of the heart’s electrical rhythm) and an echocardiogram (an ultrasound of the heart’s chambers and valves). The echocardiogram does double duty: it measures how well the heart squeezes and it estimates pressure in the lung arteries, which matters for the lung assessment discussed next.

Many people are also asked to do a stress test. Because fatigue and muscle loss make treadmill testing unreliable in cirrhosis, programs often use a pharmacological stress test, in which a medicine temporarily makes the heart work harder while images are taken. The aim is to find narrowed coronary arteries that could cause a heart attack during or after surgery. If the stress test is abnormal, or if risk factors such as diabetes, smoking or older age stack up, a cardiologist may recommend coronary angiography, a catheter-based X-ray of the heart’s arteries.

Findings do not automatically end the process. A blocked artery may be treated first, then the person returns for listing. Mild heart muscle weakness may be acceptable after optimization. Severe heart failure or pulmonary hypertension that cannot be controlled are among the reasons a team may conclude that the operation carries more risk than benefit, a point covered later under disqualifying conditions.

The cardiologist’s report is advisory; the transplant committee weighs it alongside everything else.

Lung tests: hepatopulmonary syndrome and portopulmonary hypertension explained

Two lung complications of liver disease have long names and very different implications, and the evaluation is designed to tell them apart.

Hepatopulmonary syndrome is a condition in which tiny blood vessels in the lungs widen abnormally, letting blood pass through without picking up enough oxygen. People notice breathlessness that is worse standing up and better lying down. It is detected by measuring oxygen in arterial blood and by a contrast echocardiogram, in which agitated saline is injected and the team watches whether bubbles that should be filtered by the lungs appear on the other side of the heart. Counterintuitively, hepatopulmonary syndrome can strengthen the case for transplant, because a new liver is the treatment that tends to reverse it. Severe low oxygen, however, raises surgical risk, so timing matters.

Portopulmonary hypertension is the opposite problem: high pressure in the lung arteries linked to the high pressure in the liver’s portal vein. If the echocardiogram suggests raised pressures, a right heart catheterization measures them directly. Untreated severe portopulmonary hypertension is dangerous during transplant because the right side of the heart can fail when the new liver is reconnected. Some people respond to medicines that relax the lung arteries, and are reassessed for listing once pressures fall.

Beyond these two, pulmonary function tests (breathing into a machine that measures lung volumes and airflow) and a chest X-ray or CT screen for emphysema, fibrosis, infection or nodules. Smoking status is recorded and cessation support offered, since active smoking worsens surgical recovery and later heart and cancer risk.

Mayo Clinic lists pulmonary assessment among the standard components of transplant evaluation, and the same logic applies everywhere: the lungs must be able to oxygenate the body through a long operation and the days on a ventilator that may follow.

Why the kidneys get so much attention in a liver work-up

Ask a transplant hepatologist which organ outside the liver worries them most, and many will say the kidneys. Liver failure and kidney failure are tightly linked, and kidney function shapes both the risk of the operation and the calculation that determines a person’s place on the waiting list.

The link works through blood flow. In cirrhosis, vessels in the abdomen dilate and the kidneys sense a drop in effective blood supply, so they hold onto salt and water and gradually lose filtering capacity. At its extreme this is hepatorenal syndrome, kidney failure caused by liver disease in kidneys that are structurally normal. It is a marker of very advanced disease and often improves after transplant. Kidney damage from diabetes, high blood pressure or long-standing disease, by contrast, does not improve when the liver is replaced.

Telling those apart is the nephrologist’s job. Blood creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate (a calculated measure of how much blood the kidneys filter per minute) are checked repeatedly, because single values swing with fluid status and diuretics. Urine tests look for protein and blood. Kidney ultrasound examines size and structure. Sometimes a kidney biopsy is needed to settle the question.

The answer has consequences. Creatinine is one of the components of the MELD score, the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease, which Cleveland Clinic describes as the standard scoring system for ranking adults awaiting a deceased-donor liver; worse kidney function raises the score and priority. If kidney damage is judged permanent and severe, the team may recommend a combined liver and kidney transplant rather than a liver alone.

Kidney findings also influence medicine planning after transplant, because the main anti-rejection drugs are themselves hard on the kidneys. Those choices belong to the prescribing team.

Infection checks before listing: what is screened and why

Immunosuppression is a deal with the body: it protects the new liver by lowering the guard against everything else. A dormant infection that a healthy immune system keeps quiet can flare once that guard drops. The infection block of the evaluation exists to find those before the deal is struck.

Blood tests screen for hepatitis B and C, HIV, syphilis, cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The last two are common herpes-family viruses that most adults have met; knowing whether recipient and donor have been exposed guides preventive treatment after surgery. Hepatitis B and C are no longer barriers in most programs, since effective antiviral treatment exists, but the status must be known and managed. HIV that is well controlled on treatment is likewise compatible with transplant in many programs; each case is reviewed individually.

Tuberculosis is screened with a blood test or skin test, because latent TB can reactivate under immunosuppression. People who grew up in or traveled to regions where certain fungal infections are common may have additional tests. A urine culture and, where relevant, screening for resistant bacteria in the nose or gut may be added.

Active, uncontrolled infection anywhere in the body is a reason to pause listing until it is treated. Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (infection of the fluid that builds up in the abdomen in cirrhosis) and infected leg ulcers are common examples.

Vaccination is the other half of the infection story. Live vaccines are generally avoided after transplant, so the team tries to give them before, alongside inactivated vaccines such as pneumococcal, influenza, COVID-19 and hepatitis A and B where not already immune. The transplant pharmacist or infectious disease specialist sets the schedule; the point for patients is simply that the shots are part of preparation, not a delay.

Cancer screening, dental checks and the other tests people don't expect

Nobody expects a mammogram or a colonoscopy to be part of getting a new liver, yet they usually are. The reasoning follows directly from immunosuppression: cancers grow faster and spread more readily when immune surveillance is suppressed, so a small tumor missed at listing can become a large problem afterward.

Age- and sex-appropriate screening is completed or brought up to date. That typically means colonoscopy, mammography, cervical screening and, for men, a discussion about prostate screening. People with cirrhosis are already at raised risk of liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), so the abdominal CT or MRI performed for surgical planning also checks for tumors. Where liver cancer is present, the team assesses size and number against established criteria, because small, confined tumors can make someone a candidate while large or spreading ones generally do not. A chest CT looks for spread and for lung cancer in smokers.

The dental examination surprises people most. Gum disease and dental abscesses are reservoirs of bacteria that can seed the bloodstream, and dental work is harder to arrange safely once clotting is poor and immunity is low. Teeth that cannot be saved are usually treated before listing.

Bone density scanning is common, since cirrhosis, poor nutrition and steroids after transplant all weaken bone. An upper endoscopy (a camera passed down the throat) checks for enlarged veins in the esophagus that can bleed. Nutrition and frailty assessments, sometimes as simple as grip strength or a timed walk, help predict recovery. Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins both list nutritional and psychosocial assessment as standard components, and dietitians often start work on muscle preservation during the evaluation itself.

Each of these tests can add a week or two of scheduling. Each also removes a way that a successful operation could later be undone.

Liver transplant listing criteria: who is usually listed, and who is asked to wait?

Listing criteria describe two thresholds that must both be crossed. The liver must be sick enough that transplant offers more benefit than continued medical care, and the rest of the person must be well enough to survive the surgery and its aftermath.

On the first threshold, the NHS and Mayo Clinic describe the usual indications: cirrhosis from any cause that has progressed to decompensation (jaundice, fluid in the abdomen, confusion from toxins the liver no longer clears, or bleeding from swollen veins), acute liver failure, certain liver cancers confined to the liver, and some inherited or metabolic diseases where the liver produces a harmful protein. Severity is captured by the MELD score, which uses blood tests for bilirubin, creatinine, clotting and sodium; Cleveland Clinic notes the score runs from 6 to 40, with higher values indicating sicker patients and greater priority. People whose disease is stable and mild may be told they are too well to list yet, and will be monitored instead.

On the second threshold, the heart, lung, kidney and infection checks already described do the work. A person may be asked to wait while a coronary artery is treated, an infection clears, lung pressures are brought down, or weight and nutrition are improved. People with alcohol-related liver disease are asked to demonstrate abstinence and engagement with support; the NHS describes stopping alcohol as a requirement for listing. The exact period of abstinence a program expects varies and is set case by case, increasingly on the basis of individual risk rather than a fixed calendar.

Being asked to wait is common and is not the same as being declined. Coordinators generally give a written list of what needs to happen and when the case will be reviewed again.

What disqualifies you from the liver transplant list?

Few things disqualify a person permanently, and programs differ at the margins, so what follows describes the categories that mainstream sources such as Mayo Clinic, MedlinePlus and the NHS consistently list as reasons a transplant is unlikely to be offered.

Cancer outside the liver that is active or recently treated is the clearest barrier, because immunosuppression accelerates it. Liver cancer that has spread beyond the liver or invaded major blood vessels falls in the same category. Severe heart or lung disease that cannot be corrected, including uncontrolled portopulmonary hypertension and advanced heart failure, makes the operation itself too dangerous. Active, uncontrolled infection such as sepsis must be treated first; it is a pause rather than a permanent bar.

Ongoing harmful alcohol or drug use is a barrier in essentially every program, both because it damages the new liver and because it predicts difficulty with the strict medication regimen. Programs look for sustained abstinence, treatment engagement and a realistic relapse-prevention plan. Serious mental illness that is untreated, or a documented inability to take medicines or attend follow-up despite support, is weighed similarly. Advanced dementia and other conditions that severely limit life expectancy independent of the liver are also generally disqualifying, since the transplant would not change the outcome.

Age by itself is not a cutoff in most modern programs; physiological fitness matters more than the number. Obesity is assessed by its effect on surgical risk rather than as a rule, and weight-related counseling is often part of preparation.

Two things are worth stressing. First, most “disqualifications” are conditional and can change with treatment. Second, a decision by one committee is not binding on another, and asking about a second evaluation is a legitimate question to raise with your team.

How long does a liver transplant evaluation take?

The honest answer is that it depends on how urgently it is needed and how many follow-up tests the first round generates. Cleveland Clinic describes the evaluation as taking several days of testing and consultations, while many outpatient work-ups are spread across a few weeks so that specialist appointments can be fitted in. A person in intensive care with acute liver failure may be fully assessed within days because everything is done at the bedside. An outpatient who needs coronary angiography, a colonoscopy and dental extractions before listing may take a couple of months.

The table summarizes what each block is checking and how it is usually done.

System	What the team is asking	Typical tests	Common reasons for delay
Heart	Can it withstand hours of anesthesia and big fluid shifts?	ECG, echocardiogram, stress test, sometimes angiography	Abnormal stress test needing angiography or treatment
Lungs	Can they oxygenate the body; are pulmonary pressures safe?	Arterial blood gas, contrast echo, pulmonary function tests, chest imaging	Raised lung pressures needing catheterization and treatment
Kidneys	Is damage reversible or permanent; is a combined transplant needed?	Repeated creatinine and eGFR, urine studies, ultrasound, sometimes biopsy	Fluctuating values; biopsy scheduling
Infection	Is anything dormant that immunosuppression would wake?	Viral serologies, TB test, urine culture, dental exam	Active infection; dental treatment; vaccine series
Cancer screening	Is there a tumor that would grow under immunosuppression?	Abdominal CT/MRI, chest CT, age-appropriate screening	Colonoscopy or biopsy availability
Psychosocial	Is the support and stability there for lifelong care?	Social work and psychology interviews, substance use assessment	Need to arrange caregivers or treatment engagement

Two practical points help. Bring every previous scan, biopsy report and medication list to the first visit; missing records are the most avoidable cause of delay. And ask the coordinator for a written checklist with dates, so you can see which items are complete and which are waiting on a result.

The weeks after evaluation: selection meeting, MELD score and the waiting list

When the last result is in, the case goes to the selection committee. This meeting usually happens weekly, and every discipline that saw you speaks to its findings. The outcome is one of three: listing, deferral with conditions, or a recommendation that transplant is not the right treatment and that care should focus on managing the liver disease and its symptoms. Your coordinator will call you with the decision and, in most programs, follow up in writing.

If you are listed for a deceased-donor liver, your position is governed mainly by your MELD score, which is recalculated from fresh blood tests at intervals set by how high the score is; the sicker you are, the more often it is updated. Some conditions, such as small liver cancers, receive additional priority points because the standard score under-represents their urgency. Blood type and body size also shape which donor livers can be offered to you.

Waiting itself has a routine. Expect regular clinic visits, repeat blood tests, and updated imaging if you have a tumor. You will be asked to keep a phone on and reachable at all hours, to have a bag packed, and to tell the team about any hospital admission, new medicine or change in health, since an active infection or a deterioration can temporarily make you inactive on the list. The NHS describes this waiting period as a time when many people become sicker and need ongoing management, so the hepatology team remains involved throughout.

People with a suitable living donor follow a parallel track: the donor undergoes a separate, equally thorough evaluation, and surgery is scheduled rather than awaited. Either way, the evaluation does not end at listing; it is repeated in part whenever something changes.

What people often get wrong about the liver transplant evaluation process

Myths cluster around this process, partly because it is stressful and partly because a lot of it happens behind the committee door. Five deserve direct correction.

“If they are testing my heart, they must have found something.” Cardiac testing is universal. It is ordered because of the operation, not because of a suspicion about you.

“The sickest person always gets the next liver.” Priority does rise with severity, but blood type, body size, distance from the donor hospital and, above all, being well enough to survive the surgery all matter. Someone can be too sick to transplant safely, which is one reason teams push for referral before that point.

“A high MELD score means I will be transplanted soon.” It means higher priority, not a date. Offers depend on donors becoming available who match you, and the interval is unpredictable.

“Being declined once means never.” Most declines are conditional. Treated heart disease, cleared infection, documented abstinence, improved nutrition and better social support all change the answer. Re-referral is normal.

“Once I have the transplant, the liver disease is over.” Transplant treats end-stage liver disease and can reverse many of its complications, but it introduces a new chronic condition: living with a transplanted organ. Mayo Clinic notes that anti-rejection medicines are taken for life and carry their own risks, including infection and kidney strain, and that ongoing monitoring continues indefinitely. Some original diseases, such as autoimmune hepatitis or alcohol-related disease if drinking resumes, can affect the new liver. The evaluation’s emphasis on support, follow-up and abstinence is about protecting that new organ for the long term, not about gatekeeping for its own sake.

Understanding these points tends to make the process feel less like judgment and more like preparation.

Questions to ask your care team during the evaluation

Coordinators consistently say the same thing: the people who fare best in evaluation are the ones who ask. Bring a notebook, or a family member with one, and consider working through the following.

• Which tests are complete, which are pending, and is anything on my list waiting for a referral I could help chase?
• Did any heart or lung test show a result that needs treatment before listing, and what would that treatment involve?
• Is my kidney function thought to be reversible with a new liver, or is a combined liver and kidney transplant being considered?
• Which infections or vaccines are still outstanding, and should I complete dental work before or after the committee meets?
• What is my current MELD score, how often will it be rechecked, and do I qualify for any additional priority?
• If I am deferred, what exactly needs to change, and when will my case be reviewed again?
• Is a living donor an option for me, and what would a potential donor need to do first?
• What symptoms or events should I report while waiting, and who do I call out of hours?
• What will my medicines look like after transplant, in general terms, and how will they interact with medicines I already take?
• Who is my main point of contact, and how quickly should I expect a reply?

Two further questions are uncomfortable but worth asking. First, if the committee decides transplant is not right for me, what will my care look like, and who will lead it? Palliative and supportive hepatology exists precisely for this situation and is not a withdrawal of care. Second, if I disagree with the decision, is a second evaluation elsewhere reasonable, and can you share my records?

Write the answers down. Evaluation involves many voices, and a written record you control is the simplest defense against mixed messages.

When to call your doctor during or after the evaluation

Advanced liver disease can change quickly, and several of its complications are emergencies whether or not you are on a waiting list. The team will want to know about deteriorations because they affect both your safety and your listing status.

Call emergency services or go to the nearest emergency department if you notice vomiting blood or material that looks like coffee grounds, black or tarry stools, or bright red blood from the rectum; these suggest bleeding from swollen veins. Do the same for sudden confusion, unusual drowsiness or difficulty waking, which can indicate hepatic encephalopathy, a build-up of toxins the liver is no longer clearing. Chest pain, severe shortness of breath, fainting, or a fever with shaking chills also warrant emergency assessment.

Contact your transplant coordinator or hepatology team the same day for a temperature that stays raised, new or rapidly worsening abdominal swelling, abdominal pain with fluid in the belly (a possible sign of infected fluid), a marked drop in urine output, new leg swelling, deepening yellowing of the skin or eyes, or any new medicine started by another clinician, including over-the-counter products and supplements. Many common medicines and herbal products are processed by the liver or kidneys and can interact with what you are already taking.

Let the team know about any hospital admission anywhere, since it may temporarily change your status on the list and will need to be documented. Report a fall, a new bleeding tendency such as gums that will not stop, or difficulty keeping food and fluids down.

None of these signs means a transplant is off the table. Reporting them promptly is how the team keeps you safe while the evaluation, or the wait, continues. When in doubt, call; coordinators would far rather hear about a false alarm than miss a real one.

Frequently asked questions

What happens during a liver transplant evaluation?

You meet a transplant surgeon, hepatologist, coordinator, social worker, dietitian and pharmacist, and complete blood tests, abdominal imaging, heart and lung tests, kidney assessment, infection screening, cancer screening and a dental check. Results are presented at a multidisciplinary selection committee, which decides whether to list you, defer with conditions, or recommend other treatment. The team, not any single clinician, makes that decision.

How long does a liver transplant evaluation take?

Cleveland Clinic describes the evaluation as several days of testing and consultations, and in practice outpatient work-ups are often spread over a few weeks so specialists can be seen. It runs faster for people in hospital with acute liver failure and slower when first-round tests lead to further procedures such as coronary angiography, dental treatment or a colonoscopy. Bringing complete records to the first visit avoids the most common delay.

What disqualifies you from the liver transplant list?

The main barriers listed by mainstream sources are active cancer outside the liver or liver cancer that has spread, severe heart or lung disease that cannot be corrected, uncontrolled infection, ongoing harmful alcohol or drug use, and conditions that sharply limit life expectancy regardless of the liver. Age alone is not a cutoff in most programs. Many barriers are temporary and can be revisited after treatment.

What are the liver transplant listing criteria?

Two thresholds must be met. The liver disease must be advanced enough, usually decompensated cirrhosis, acute liver failure, confined liver cancer or certain metabolic diseases, that transplant offers more benefit than medical care. And the heart, lungs, kidneys, infection status and social support must be judged adequate for surgery and lifelong follow-up. Severity for ranking is captured by the MELD score, calculated from routine blood tests.

Which tests are done before a liver transplant?

Standard tests include blood work for liver and kidney function, clotting, blood type and infections; CT or MRI of the abdomen; electrocardiogram, echocardiogram and usually a stress test; pulmonary function tests and arterial oxygen measurement; tuberculosis screening; age-appropriate cancer screening; a dental examination; bone density scanning; and psychosocial and nutritional assessments. Further tests such as coronary angiography or right heart catheterization are added when initial results raise questions.

How common is it for a liver transplant to fail?

Transplanted livers can fail through rejection, blood vessel or bile duct complications, infection, or return of the original disease, and this risk is exactly what the evaluation is designed to reduce. Outcome figures vary by program, diagnosis and how sick a person is at surgery, so specific numbers should come from your transplant team, who can quote their own audited results rather than a general average.

Why do I need heart tests for a liver problem?

Liver transplant involves many hours of anesthesia, large shifts in blood volume and a moment of circulatory stress when the new liver is connected. Cirrhosis also changes the circulation in ways that can hide coronary disease or heart weakness. An electrocardiogram, echocardiogram and stress test are ordered for everyone to make sure the heart can cope; abnormal findings are usually treated first rather than ending the process.

Can I be listed if I have hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV?

In most programs, yes. Effective antiviral treatments mean hepatitis B and C are managed rather than treated as barriers, and well-controlled HIV on treatment is compatible with transplant in many centers. What matters is that the infection is known, controlled and planned for, since immunosuppression after surgery changes how these viruses behave. Each case is reviewed individually by the transplant and infectious disease teams.

Do I have to stop drinking alcohol to be evaluated?

Yes. Stopping alcohol is a requirement for listing described by the NHS and by transplant programs generally, because continued drinking damages a new liver and predicts difficulty with the strict medication regimen. Programs look for sustained abstinence, engagement with support or treatment, and a relapse-prevention plan. The specific period expected varies and is decided case by case by the team.

What happens if the committee says no?

A decline is usually conditional and comes with a written explanation of what would need to change, such as treating a heart problem, clearing an infection or demonstrating abstinence, along with a date for review. If transplant is judged not to be the right treatment, care shifts to managing the liver disease and its symptoms with the hepatology team. Asking about a second evaluation elsewhere is a reasonable question to raise.

References

• MedlinePlus: Liver transplant
• NHS: Liver transplant
• NIH NIDDK: Liver Transplant

This article is for general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a qualified doctor about your individual situation.