Department of Surgery
Division of Solid Organ Transplantation
Procedures
Liver Transplant Surgery
Rejection
Guide to Liver Transplant |
Rejection occurs when your body's natural defenses, called the immune system, damage the new liver. Your immune system keeps you healthy by fighting against things that don't belong in your body, such as bacteria and viruses. After a transplant, it is common for your body to consider the new organ to be a foreign substance and have your immune fight against it and try to destroy it.
Tests
Blood tests will show if the new liver is being rejected. Rejection may not make you feel ill. On the other hand, it can cause:
- Nausea
- Pain
- Fever
- Jaundice
Often, a liver biopsy is needed to confirm if a transplanted liver is being rejected. For a biopsy, the doctor takes a small piece of the liver to view under a microscope.
Medication
Medicines will keep your body from rejecting the new liver. These drugs, such as steroids, cyclosporine, tacrolimus, sirolimus, and mycophenolate mofetil, are called immunosuppressants because they suppress (weaken) your immune system's ability to reject your new liver.
Higher Risk For Infections
But because your immune system is weakened, you can get infections more easily. That's why you'll need to stay away from sick people. These drugs may also increase your blood pressure, cause your cholesterol to rise, cause diabetes, weaken your bones, and damage your kidneys. Steroid drugs may also cause changes in how you look by causing weight gain. Your doctor and the transplant team will monitor these effects and may treat you for complications.
Other problems that can damage the liver transplant include:
- Return of the problem that made the transplant necessary;
- Hepatitis C virus (if you were infected with it before the surgery);
- Blockage of the blood vessels going into or out of the liver;
- Damage to the tubes that carry bile into the intestine.
More About the Transplant Process