Can a patients original liver disease that caused the need for transplantation reoccur in the new, transplanted liver?
If a patient’s liver disease was caused by hepatitis B or C viruses, then recurrence is possible. Hepatitis B right now only reoccurs in 5% or less of patients since we have mastered controlling this disease with an immune globulin medicine and an oral medication. Hepatitis C reoccurs in almost all patients and is progressive in maybe a quarter to half of patients in the first 5 to 10 years. For other types of liver disease, recurrence is less likely, but is still a possibility unless it was a genetic disease that was cured by the liver transplantation.
