De Novo Malignancy Following Orthotopic Liver Transplantation (OLT) for Alcoholic Cirrhosis (AC)

Abstract

AC is the most common cause of end-stage liver failure in Europe and the United States. Since at present OLT is the best treatment for end-stage liver diseases, AC has recently become an increasing indication of OLT and its results are comparable with those of subjects transplanted for non alcoholic liver diseases (non ALD). However, the long-term results of OLT for patients with AC are still unknown, and information concerning the incidence of new malignancies following OLT is lacking. The aim of our study was to establish the prevalence and characteristics of the new cancers among patients transplanted for AC (group A) at our liver transplant unit and to compare these results with those of the other patients transplanted for non AC (group B). Patients and methods: between March 1986 and December 1994, a total of 163 adult patients underwent OLT. 27 patients who died before the first month post-OLT were excluded from the study. Thus, 61 patients (52 men) in group A and 75 (40 men) in group B were studied. The mean age at the time of OLT was comparable between the 2 groups of patients (group A = 50.7 years ± 8.1 SD; group B = 49.3 ± 12.4 SD) (p = 0.9). The mean duration of follow-up since OLT was also comparable in the 2 groups of patients (group A = 37.9 months ± 25.8 SD; group B = 42.2 months ± 36.3 SD) (p = 0.3). Standard immunosuppresive treatment was the same in the 2 groups and consisted of steroids, ciclosporine and azathioprine.