James talks to Anastasia Volovets about liver transplantation, a final treatment option for patients who would otherwise die of their liver disease.
Summary Writer: Claudia Hurwitz
Script Writer: Anastasia Volovets
Editor: Anastasia Volovets
Interviewee: Anastasia Volovets
Dr Anastasia Volovets is a consultant gastroenterologist and hepatologist. After completing her advanced training at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, she took off for the green pastures of Edinburgh in Scotland to complete a fellowship in advanced liver disease and liver transplantation. On return she did some more liver transplantology as a consultant before settling into a part-time staff specialist duties at RPA as well as some private practice locally.
Anastasia loves teaching patients, nurses, medical students and other doctors almost as much as she loves the liver. She is currently involved in developing a statewide curriculum on gastrostomy feeding in her spare time and can often be found wandering the hospital with a cup of coffee and a toxicology textbook.
With Dr Anastasia Volovets, Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, Australia
A liver transplant is the final treatment option for patients who would otherwise die of their liver disease. Not only does it require a donor liver and a suitable patient but post-operatively is challenging for the patient, in both the immediate and longer term due to the immunosuppression and related complications.
Absolute contraindications:
Relative contraindications include:
Patients are usually worked up as outpatients, the process can take several weeks to months. Occasionally the patient is more acutely unwell, in these cases they can be worked up as an inpatient in roughly a week.
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