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Pretransplant screening of sobriety with carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in patients suffering from alcoholic cirrhosis

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Transplant International

Abstract

Sufficient assessment of potential candidates for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is the most important factor for a low alcohol relapse rate after transplantation in patients suffering from alcoholic cirrhosis. In the current study the efficiency of pretransplant screening with carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) was analysed in patients on the waiting list for OLT. A prospective study was performed in 44 patients who had undergone OLT for alcoholic cirrhosis. All patients had had pretransplant assessment by a specialist psychologist and were found to have no problems with alcohol. Pre- and post-transplant CDT monitoring was performed. Overall, 790 CDT values were measured in the study population. The median observation period was 2.1 months before and 41.2 months after transplantation, respectively. In 35 patients (80%) pretransplant CDT values were found to be above the reference value, but only one patient suffered an alcohol relapse after transplantation. Of the nine patients (20%) who demonstrated normal CDT before transplantation, two suffered an alcohol relapse after transplantation. CDT is a very useful marker for the monitoring of an alcohol relapse in patients following OLT for alcoholic cirrhosis, as has been previously indicated. However, CDT does not appear to be useful as a pretransplant screening marker for selection of potential transplant candidates suffering from alcoholic cirrhosis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Transplant Surgery, University of Vienna, Waehringer-Guertel 18–20, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Gabriela A. Berlakovich, Thomas Soliman, Edith Freundorfer, Thomas Windhager, Martin Bodingbauer, Peter Wamser & Ferdinand Muehlbacher

  2. Department of Anesthesiology and ICM, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Hubert Hetz

  3. Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Markus Peck-Radosavljevic

Authors
  1. Gabriela A. Berlakovich
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  2. Thomas Soliman
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  3. Edith Freundorfer
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  4. Thomas Windhager
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  5. Martin Bodingbauer
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  6. Peter Wamser
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  7. Hubert Hetz
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  8. Markus Peck-Radosavljevic
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  9. Ferdinand Muehlbacher
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabriela A. Berlakovich.

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Berlakovich, G.A., Soliman, T., Freundorfer, E. et al. Pretransplant screening of sobriety with carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in patients suffering from alcoholic cirrhosis. Transpl Int 17, 617–621 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00147-004-0765-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00147-004-0765-9

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