Despite improvements in medical and surgical treatment of intestinal failure over the past decade, intestine transplant continues to play an important role. Of 171 new patients added to the intestine transplant waiting list in 2013, 49% were listed for intestine-liver transplant and 51% for intestine transplant alone or with an organ other than liver. The pretransplant mortality rate decreased dramatically over time for all age groups, from 30.3 per 100 waitlist years in 2002-2003 to 6.9 for patients listed in 2012-2013. The number of intestine transplants decreased from 91 in 2009 to 51 in 2013; intestine-liver transplants decreased from 135 in 2007 to a low of 44 in 2012, but increased slightly to 58 in 2013. Ages of intestine and intestineliver transplant recipients have changed substantially; the number of adult recipients was double the number of pediatric recipients in 2013. Graft survival improved over the past decade. Graft failure in the first 90 days posttransplant occurred in 14.1% of intestine recipients and in 11.2% of intestine-liver recipients in 2013. The number of recipients alive with a functioning intestine graft has steadily increased since 2002, to 1012 in 2013; almost half were pediatric intestine-liver transplant recipients.
Keywords: Intestinal failure; intestine transplant; intestine-liver transplant; waiting list.
© Copyright 2015 The American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.