Bleeding With Adult Living Donor Liver Transplants

Bleeding with adult living donor liver transplants is expected -- both during and after the surgery. Uncontrolled bleeding, however, can present a serious problem, as can damage to a major blood vessel. If either of these complications occurs as a result of serious bleeding with adult living donor liver transplants, you may require a transfusion or surgery to correct the problem.

Bleeding With Adult Living Donor Liver Transplants

While some bleeding with

adult living donor liver transplants is normal, uncontrollable bleeding and/or damage to a major blood vessel are possible complications of this procedure. There are different causes of serious bleeding and different ways to stop it; sometimes, it even stops by itself. If it doesn't stop right away, however, your doctor may have to spend additional time in the operating room to correct the cause. If bleeding continues or increases after your operation, another surgery may be required.

You should let your doctor know if you have had a history of abnormal bleeding. If significant bleeding does happen, you may need a blood transfusion. Although many donors are able to store some of their own blood before the surgery, extra blood from the blood bank may also be needed. Getting blood from the blood bank is usually safe. The blood is tested for AIDS and other diseases, like hepatitis, before it's given to you.

There is a small chance that you can get a disease or infection from blood, but this is rare. The risk for getting hepatitis C is about 1 out of 100,000; for hepatitis B, it's 1 out of 200,000; and the risk of getting HIV is about 1 out of 600,000.