Hi, I am new to MD junction. I just sent the below as a private message to a member who posted some very helpful information on the role of too much iron and liver disease. His post was several days ago. Not sure, but I believe his name is "Moonwalker." "You offer great advice. I have had two liver transplants, the first was more than six years ago and was needed as a result of undiagnosed iron overload. I have since dedicated much of my time working with Iron Disorders Institute (irondisorders.org) and the Hemochromatosis Foundation (Hemochromatosis.org). Unfortunately most primary care physicians and even many specialists are not up to date on the latest scientific information. Iron reduction has been shown affective for most for patients with non-cholestatic liver diseases, including cirrhosis caused by hepatitus-C, fatty liver disease (NAFLD), leading to NASH (non-alcoholic seatohepatis), alcoholic liver disease (ALD), diabetes, and of course hemochromatosis (HHC). We have recently been able to confirm that as many as 70% of all liver transplants are at least in part the result of iron overload. Blood donation or phlebotomy can significantly reduce the iron burden in the liver and reduce and in some cases even reverse the oxidative damage leading to end stage liver disease (ESLD)." In one well-documented case a patient rejected for liver transplant because the physicians feared he was not a candidate for long-term survival because a significant amount of his iron burden resided in his heart. They had had previous patients die shorty post-transplant due to cardiac iron overload. This patient's liver and hearth health was subsequently restored through phlebotomy. When asked at a later date if he would like to again become a candidate for transplant, he refused. |
