Influence of Liver Transplantation on Neuropsychiatric Manifestations of Wilson Disease

• Published in: Transplantation proceedings Vol. 47; no. 5; pp. 1469 - 1473
• Main Authors: Yagci, M.A, Tardu, A, Karagul, S, Ertugrul, I, Ince, V, Kirmizi, S, Unal, B, Isik, B, Kayaalp, C, Yilmaz, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.06.2015
• Subjects: Adult; Child; End Stage Liver Disease - complications; End Stage Liver Disease - surgery; Female; Hepatolenticular Degeneration - complications; Hepatolenticular Degeneration - psychology; Humans; Liver Transplantation - psychology; Male; Surgery
• ISSN: 0041-1345; 1873-2623
• DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2015.04.017

Abstract Objectives This study sought to evaluate the effect of liver transplantation on the neuropsychological manifestations of Wilson disease. Materials and Methods Nine of 42 Wilson disease patients had neuropsychological symptoms before liver transplantation. They were 7 male and 2 female subjects with a median age of 19 years (range 10 to 25). They were analyzed for their preoperative and postoperative hepatic, neurological, and psychological scores described by the Unified Wilson Disease Rating Scale after a mean 36.6 months of follow-up. Results Preoperative mean Model for End-Stage Liver Disease and Child-Pugh scores were 18.3 (range 15 to 26) and 8.9 (range 6 to 12), respectively. One patient had acute postoperative ischemic stroke unrelated to Wilson disease and was excluded from the statistical analysis. Preoperative and postoperative hepatic, neurological, and psychological scores of the remaining 8 patients were 7.4 ± 2.3 vs 2.4 ± 1.3 ( P  = .0005), 17.7 ± 11.7 vs 12.7 ± 12.5 ( P  = .055), and 9.0 ± 1.7 vs 7.0 ± 2.1 ( P  = .033). Conclusions Liver transplantation for Wilson disease can provide some improvement of the neuropsychological symptoms in addition to the hepatic recovery.