Liver Transplantation in the World: Present Conditions of Liver Transplantation from Cadaver Donors in USA.

The potential usefulness of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLTx) in the treatment of end-stage liver diseases was recognized in the 1950s, and the first clinical attempt was carried out at the University of Colorado in Denver, on March 1, 1963 [1,2]. It was unsuccessful: the 3 year old patient, affected by extrahepatic biliary atresia, exsanguinated on the operating table. Among the next 8 patients, transplanted in Denver (6 patients), Boston (1 patient), and Paris (1 patient), the longest survival was 23 days [2]. The first long-term survivor was a child transplanted for hepatoma on July 23, 1967, who died of carcinomatosis 400 days later [3].