title: Successful reversal of primary graft non-function in a liver transplant patient treated with prostaglandin E1.
abstract: A 63 year old woman with liver failure received a transplant from a 21 year old male diagnosed as brain dead following a motor accident. After the operation, bile production was virtually absent and aspartate transaminase (AST) values rose dramatically 40 h postoperatively. Primary non-function of the graft was diagnosed, and the patient put on an urgent list for retransplantation. At the same time a continuous intravenous infusion of PGE1 was administered. Aspartate transaminase levels decreased within 9 h and reached normal levels by the sixth postoperative day, when bile production began to increase. Liver function subsequently returned to normal.
authors.affiliation: Australian National Liver Transplantation Unit, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Children's Hospital, Camperdown.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Isai
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Sheil
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McCaughan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dolan
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Waugh
mesh_terms: D000527:Alprostadil / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001646:Bile / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008105:Liver Cirrhosis, Biliary / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D000527:Alprostadil