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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 21, 2015; 21(39): 10994-11002
Published online Oct 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i39.10994
Liver transplantation for alcoholic liver disease: Lessons learned and unresolved issues
José Ursic-Bedoya, Stéphanie Faure, Hélène Donnadieu-Rigole, Georges-Philippe Pageaux
José Ursic-Bedoya, Stéphanie Faure, Georges-Philippe Pageaux, Liver Transplantation Unit, Digestive Department, Saint Eloi University Hospital, University of Montpellier, 34295 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
Hélène Donnadieu-Rigole, Addictology Department, Saint Eloi University Hospital, University of Montpellier, 34295 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
Author contributions: Ursic-Bedoya J reviewed the literature and wrote the manuscript; Faure S, Donnadieu-Rigole H and Pageaux GP advised on the literature search and critically revised the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Georges-Philippe Pageaux, MD, PhD, Liver Transplantation Unit, Digestive Department, Saint Eloi University Hospital, University of Montpellier, 34295 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. gp-pageaux@chu-montpellier.fr
Telephone: +33-4-67337077 Fax: +33-4-67337077
Received: April 28, 2015
Peer-review started: May 6, 2015
First decision: June 2, 2015
Revised: July 10, 2015
Accepted: September 2, 2015
Article in press: September 2, 2015
Published online: October 21, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) has become one of the leading indications for liver transplantation (LT) over the last twenty years. In the context of scarcity of organs, the excellent survival and compliance rates of LT for ALD make this a favorable procedure. However, there are considerable relapse rates, which can have dire consequences, such as graft loss and death. Other issues have also emerged: increased risk of malignancy, concomitant hepatitis C virus infection, and LT for alcoholic hepatitis. This review will first discuss the highly controversial history of LT for ALD and then focus on the main questions that remain unanswered in 2015.