Minireviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Transplant. Sep 18, 2020; 10(9): 256-266
Published online Sep 18, 2020. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v10.i9.256
Liver transplantation and aging
Danko Mikulic, Anna Mrzljak
Danko Mikulic, Department of Abdominal and Transplant Surgery, Merkur University Hospital, Zagreb 10000, Croatia
Anna Mrzljak, Department of Medicine, Merkur University Hospital; School of Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb 10000, Croatia
Author contributions: Mikulic D and Mrzljak A made contributions to the conception and design of the study, collecting of data and in drafting and revising the manuscript; both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Anna Mrzljak, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Merkur University Hospital, Zajceva 19, Zagreb 10000, Croatia. anna.mrzljak@mef.hr
Received: April 4, 2020
Peer-review started: April 4, 2020
First decision: April 26, 2020
Revised: May 3, 2020
Accepted: July 19, 2020
Article in press: July 19, 2020
Published online: September 18, 2020
Processing time: 164 Days and 17.1 Hours
Abstract

An increase in the average life expectancy, paralleled by a demographic shift in the population with end-stage liver disease lies behind the rising demand for liver transplantation (LT) among the elderly. Some of the most common indications for LT including hepatocellular carcinoma, alcohol-related liver disease, chronic hepatitis C and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease tend to affect older patients. Transplant professionals are faced with an increasing demand for LT among elderly patients in an age of organ shortage and it is important that risk and benefits are carefully weighed in order to achieve the optimum use of precious liver grafts.

Keywords: Liver transplantation; Elderly; Hepatocellular carcinoma; Alcohol-related liver disease; Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; Hepatitis C virus

Core Tip: An increase in the average life expectancy paralleled by a demographic shift in the population with end-stage liver disease raises the demand for liver transplantation (LT) among the elderly. The most common indications for LT such as hepatocellular carcinoma, alcohol-related liver disease, hepatitis C virus and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease tend to affect older patients more and more. However, risks need to be weighed against the benefits since the effects of associated age-related co-morbidities in older individuals may affect transplant outcomes.