Liver transplantation in patients with chronic hepatitis C and alcoholism

We evaluated the contribution of alcohol abuse to liver failure among patie nts undergoing liver transplantation by reviewing their records for alcohol consumption, hepatitis serology, and outcome. Anti-HCV was present in the serum of 42 patients (39%), while 35 had consumed more than 80 g/day of alc ohol for at least 10 years, allowing patients to be divided into four group s: group I, hepatitis C alone (N = 31); group II, alcoholic liver disease a lone (N = 24); group III, both hepatitis C and alcoholism (N = 11); and gro up IV, liver failure due to other causes (N = 41). Patients were followed f or a mean of 29 months after transplantation (range 0-66). Twenty-eight (26 %) died during follow up, while 11 (10%) required retransplantation. There were no other significant differences in patient or graft survival among pa tients in the four groups. Patients with both alcoholism and chronic hepati tis C comprise a large proportion of those undergoing liver transplantation and appear to do as well as those with other causes of liver failure, at l east in the short term.