The Johns Hopkins Transplant Center offers a team of anesthesiologists who specialize in liver transplantation. This is essential because most patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) metabolize medications abnormally, have abnormalities of their blood clotting mechanisms and often have disturbances in the autonomic nervous system that tend to lower their blood pressure. Many also have ongoing disturbances in kidney function. And the altered mental status from encephalopathy and decreased ability to provide oxygen to the blood, complicate the scenario for anesthesiologists. During the surgery, a specialized physician team addresses these challenges and others presented by liver transplantation.
