摘要
The first liver transplantation(LT)in humans was performed by Thomas Starzl on March 1,1963[1,2](Fig.1).During the period 1963-1983,this challenging procedure was performed in four centers only,one in the USA and three in Western Europe:Denver,Cambridge,Hannover and Groningen.Their collected experience including only 540 cases(meaning 27(!)cases yearly)was the basis of the 1983 National Institutes of Health(NIH)development consensus conference leading to the conclusion that LT could become“a promising alternative to the current therapy in the management of the late phase of several forms of serious liver disease…candidates are those who exhausted alternative medical and surgical treatments…and are approaching the terminal phase of their illness”.Patients presenting liver tumors and inherited,liver based,metabolic diseases could also be considered for LT[3].This conference put forward ten absolute and five relative contraindications restricting thereby the access to LT to a minority of very well selected liver diseased patients.
