Liver transplant: best clinics abroad

Liver transplantation is a chance to save a life for patients with end-stage liver disease. During this surgery unproperly working liver is replaced with a well-functioning one from the donor.

There are two types of liver transplantation:

• Liver Transplantation from a living donor;
• Liver Transplantation from a deceased donor.

During Living Donor Liver Transplantation doctor takes only a small piece of the liver from the alive person. This type of surgery has made the transplant procedure more accessible, especially in clinics abroad.

If you have a suitable donor and want to have liver transplantation in foreign countries, please leave a request and our medical coordinator will contact you as soon as possible.

Who needs liver transplantation

The most common reasons for liver transplantation due to the end-stage liver disease include:

• alcoholic liver disease;
• hepatitis C virus;
• idiopathic (when the cause of liver damage is unknown) liver disease; 
• primary biliary cirrhosis (scarring of liver tissue due to biliary tract disease);
• autoimmune liver disease, caused by one`s immune hyperactivation;
• hepatitis B virus;
• cancer.

Biliary atresia is a common cause of liver transplantation in children.In this condition, the tubes (ducts) that transfer bile from the liver to the gallbladder are scarred and blocked.

Who can`t undergo liver transplantation

Due to improvements in surgery techniques, contraindications for liver transplants are getting less. Nevertheless, some of them still exist.

1. Serious cardiac or pulmonary disease.
2. Active alcohol or drug use.
3. Some types of liver cancer - hepatocellular carcinoma or perihilar cholangiocarcinoma with metastasis, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.
4. An anatomic abnormality that makes liver transplantation impossible.
5. Untreated life-threatening conditions such as septic shock or sepsis.
6. Cancer outside the liver, unless the patient is in remission for more than two years and has a low risk for recurrence.
7. Hemangiosarcoma.
8. Fulminant hepatic failure that leads to sustained intracranial pressure elevation (ICP) above 50 mmHg.
9. Lack of psychosocial support and severe psychological disease.
10. Severe blood pressure elevation in pulmonary arteries (pulmonary hypertension).
11. MELD score of less than 15. The Model of End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD score) helps to predict survival among patients with cirrhosis (liver scarring) if liver transplantation is performed.

Leave a request and our medical coordinator will help you to understand your real chances to get a new healthy liver abroad.

Where can I get a liver transplant abroad

Several medical centers in Turkey, Israel, Germany, South Korea, and Austria offer liver transplants for non-residents patients. You can see a list by clicking on the country links on the right panel. There you can also find information regarding prices, types of interventions, medical stuff, and read patient reviews about each of the clinics.

To get additional data about liver transplants in foreign clinics, please contact our medical coordinator. A free consultation will help to predict your chances to get a liver transplant abroad and get answers regarding the process and expenses.

Advantages of liver transplantation abroad

Legal validity of the intervention

Many people are looking for liver transplants in non-residential countries due to the lack of legal basis for a procedure in their motherland. Sometimes this could lead you to illegal clinics. In such cases, you can make your health condition even worse and be infected or get an inappropriate liver graft which will be rejected shortly.

Make sure that you cooperate only with legal clinics or leave this job for specialists. Our team will help you to get a high-quality liver transplant with a low-risk complication level.

High success rate

All medical centers we cooperate with are characterized by the high efficiency of liver transplants. For example, the success rate of liver transplantation in Medical Park Hospitals Group (Turkey) has already been 88% in 2017.

Modern equipment and compliance with guidelines & standards of the International Transplantation Society.

Foreign clinics that specialize in liver transplants use high-precision diagnostic and treatment tools. This allows to decrease the risk of complications and makes the recovery period shorter.

Аttractive price

Another important reason for liver transplants abroad is the high cost of the procedure in the home country. Liver transplantation abroad may be cheaper even if expenses for transplantation in the country of residence are partly covered by insurance. For example, a liver transplant in Turkey will cost you 1.5-2 times cheaper than in the US or Germany.  Many patients choose this country for the transplant precisely because of the price.

What to expect

Before

The pre-liver transplantation evaluation includes:

• a detailed, comprehensive history of the disease;
• physical examination;
• laboratory tests - blood and urine tests;
• imaging studies - liver ultrasonography.

All these tests help your health care provider to evaluate your health status and to predict and prevent possible complications.

During surgery

Surgeon actions during transplantation depend on the type of surgery. Clinics abroad usually perform Living Donor Liver Transplantation (LDLT). It is more complicated and requires careful dissection. A living donor graft is partial, unlike the whole graft from a deceased donor. A living donor graft has a noticeably smaller artery, vein, and bile duct, which needs to be connected with recipient vessels and ducts.

The surgeon will make anastomosis (connection) in the following order:

1. Hepatic vein, which needs to be long enough.
2. Portal vein.
3. The hepatic artery, which is difficult to connect due to many short tributaries. 
4. Bile duct.

After 

Recovery time after liver transplantation depends on the severity of your disease. Usually, it takes six months or more for full healing. You will be able to return to your usual activities and work a couple of months after surgery.

It's crucial to take specific drugs called immunosuppressive medicines to prevent your new liver from rejection. They weaken your immune system’s response and help the liver graft to heal properly.

What could go wrong

There are some risks of a liver transplant.

Graft rejection

In some cases, the patient's immune system could consider a new liver like something alien and dangerous. It attacks a new liver and prevents the graft from healing and proper functioning.

Vascular thrombosis

During transplantation blood clots (thrombi) may form in any vessel of your body. They obstruct blood flow and cause tissue ischemia (oxygen restriction or reduction) and damage.

Biliary leak or stricture (obstruction of bile flow due to scarring)

Bile is crucial for proper digestion. It is produced by the liver and collected and stored in bile ducts and gallbladder. Bile itself is quite an aggressive substant. When bile contacts directly with healthy cells because of duct injury or stricture it can cause cell damage.

Infection

Air and things around us contain thousands of microorganisms. There is always a risk that some of them could get into one's body during surgery and cause infection.

Malignancy

There is a chance that cancer could develop in liver graft. This explained by is numerous risk factors that elevate the risk of malignancy, including: 

• immunosuppression drugs use;
• viral infections;
• alcohol consumption; 
• smoking; 
• elder age. 

More common cancers among liver transplantation recipients are skin, cervical, vulvar, and anal cancer, as well as lymphoproliferative disease.

Adverse effects of immunosuppressant drugs

Immunosuppressant medicine after liver transplantation is a must. You have to take them for the rest of your life to prevent graft rejection. Like any other drugs, they have side effects such as an increased risk of infections and kidney problems.

How can I get and what is the price of liver transplantation in clinics abroad

Expenses for liver transplantation depend on multiple factors. These include:

• the severity of undergoing disease;
• comorbidities;
• your age;
• preferable country for transplantation.

Leave a request and our medical coordinator will accompany you on your way to the healthy liver.