Alcohol relapse expectation in liver cirrhosis patients

Abstract

Liver transplant surgery teams have a certain pessimism as to the transplantation procedure in cirrhotic alcoholic patients because they fear the after surgery alcohol consumption relapse. Purpose: to verify the likelihood of relapse in patients who were being considered to be inserted in a liver transplantation program. Method: in order to verify the likelihood of relapse, 47 patients were evaluated at the Liver Transplant Unit, Hospital de Clinicas, Faculty of Medical Sciences, State University of Campinas after submitting a Personal Belief and Expectation About Alcohol Inventory (IECPA). Scores for individual items of each page, including subtotals were totaled and added together, resulting in the final score. Among the general population, the cutoff is 122, i.e., subjects attaining a total score of 122 or more are likely to be or will be alcohol-dependent. Results: The mean age of patients was 47.97 ± 7.65 years. The average withdrawal time was of 21.07 months. Related to the score of the test applied, it was observed that 25.53% had higher than 136 scores with a higher than one year abstinence time, and 38.29% with a higher than 136 score, but with a lower than one year abstinence time. This showed that the later are more likely to return his drinking habits in comparison to the others, while 36.18% showed no likelihood of relapse. Conclusion: According to the standardized test, 63.82% of patients studied were likely of returning to alcoholism in greater or lesser intensity.