Changes in quality of life after hepatectomy and living donor liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Quality of life has become important as an outcome in addition to conventional outcomes such as disease-free and overall survival. In this study, we compared the fluctuations of quality of life after hepatectomy and living donor liver transplantation. METHODOLOGY Thirteen adult patients undergoing hepatectomy and 7 with living donor liver transplantation were enrolled. The SF-36, which can objectively measure health-related generic physical and mental quality of life, was completed before surgery and at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after surgery. RESULTS Before surgery, the scores of 7 out of 8 domains in SF36 were significantly lower in the transplantation group than in the hepatectomy group. After hepatectomy, quality of life dropped temporarily and subsequently gradually recovered toward the baseline, while after transplantation, quality of life, especially mental function, tended to be improved beyond the baseline. Consequently, the quality of life of the transplantation patients became comparable to that of the hepatectomy patients 12 months after surgery. CONCLUSIONS Living donor liver transplantation was demonstrated to be a sensible therapeutic intervention for liver failure and malignances from the point of view of improvement in physical and mental quality of life.