Types of Liver Diseases That Lead to Transplantation

Liver transplants in children are performed to replace diseased livers with healthy ones. Below is a list of liver diseases that may lead to liver transplantation.

Metabolic Diseases

• Alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency
• Tyrosinemia
• Glycogen storage disease
  • Type 4
  • Type 3
  • Type 2
  • Type 1
• Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD)
• Wilson’s disease
• Neonatal hemochromatosis
• Urea cycle deficiency

Acute and Chronic Hepatitis

• Fulminant hepatic failure
  • Viral
  • Toxin or drug induced
• Chronic active hepatitis with cirrhosis
  • Hepatitis B
  • Hepatitis C
  • Autoimmune
  • Idiopathic

Intrahepatic Cholestasis

• Idiopathic neonatal hepatitis
• Alagilles syndrome (bile duct paucity syndrome)
• Familial intra-hepatic cholestasis (Byler disease)

Obstructive Biliary Tract Liver Disease

• Extra-hepatic biliary atresia
• Primary Sclerosing cholangitis

Traumatic and Post-surgical Biliary Tract Diseases

• Hepatic tumors (liver tumors)
  • Hepatoblastoma
  • Hepatocellular carcinoma
  • Other hepatic tumors

Other Types of Liver Disease

• Cryptogenic cirrhosis
• Congenital hepatic fibrosis
• Caroli disease
• Cystic fibrosis
• Cirrhosis secondary to prolonged total parenteral nutrition
• Budd-Chiari

Biliary atresia is the most common liver disease that requires transplantation. The percentage that each liver disease contributes to the total liver transplants performed every year are:

• Biliary atresia 54%
• Metabolic disease 14%
• Acute hepatic necrosis 11%
• Miscellaneous diseases 7%
• Autoimmune and other cirrhosis 7%
• Cholestatic liver disease 4%
• Malignancy 2%
• Congenital hepatic fibrosis 1%

Learn more about Liver Transplant Indicators in Children.