Risks of Liver transplant

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Like any surgical procedure, there are risks involved if you have a liver transplant. In any major operation, the main risk during surgery is a heart attack or stroke, where the heart is working harder to pump blood around the body. This is why your heart will be carefully assessed before you have a transplant.

Immediately after the operation, complications can include:

bleeding where the donor liver and the blood vessels are connected,
leaking bile ducts where the donor liver is connected, leading to infections around the abdomen,
short-term kidney damage,
infections, as your immune system (the bodyâ€™s defence system) will be weaker after the operation , and
blood clotting in the hepatic artery that passes through the liver, which can stop the liver working properly.

Very rarely the transplanted liver does not work at all. The only treatment is another emergency transplant. A

fter the transplant, some people may also develop diabetes (a disease caused by too much sugar in the blood), high blood pressure and high cholesterol.