AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- New Zealand doctors have transplanted a liver into a alcoholic liver disease patient who had other significant complications.
Organ damage that goes beyond the liver due to alcoholism is often seen as a barrier to liver transplantation, but the New Zealand doctors have transplanted a liver into a 50-year-old man whose alcoholic liver disease was complicated by nerve damage affecting the arms and legs.
Their work is summarized in the December issue of the journal Liver Transplantation.
When his condition continued to deteriorate after nine months of abstinence from alcohol, he was evaluated for a liver transplant, even though his nerve damage had progressed to the point where he could not rise from a chair without using his arms and had considerable difficulty climbing stairs.
The patient underwent a liver transplant in December 1999, and afterwards he noticed progressive recovery of strength in both legs. He was able to walk unaided after two months, and after six months he could rise from a chair and negotiate stairs normally.
