title: Management options in fulminant hepatic failure.
abstract: The diagnosis of FHF carries with it a high mortality rate. Though the early results of OLT for FHF are encouraging, some have called for caution as these results are in a select population and may be similar to the optimistic early reports of now-discredited therapies. However, OLT differs fundamentally from all other interventions and, as such, it is ethically unjustified to withhold potentially life-saving therapy from patients with a predicted mortality in excess of 60%. Therefore, patients with FHF should be transferred at an early stage to an experienced liver unit where the option of liver transplantation can be considered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology/Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Darby
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Obrist
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosenbloom
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Murray
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Linden
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Miro
mesh_terms: D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000209:etiology; D001778:Blood Coagulation Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D012119:Respiration