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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 21, 2015; 21(39): 11034-11043
Published online Oct 21, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i39.11034
Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders following liver transplantation: Where are we now?
Daan Dierickx, Nina Cardinaels
Daan Dierickx, Nina Cardinaels, Department of Hematology, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Author contributions: Dierickx D and Cardinaels N equally contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Daan Dierickx, MD, Department of Hematology, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. daan.dierickx@uzleuven.be
Telephone: +32-16-346880 Fax: +32-16-346881
Received: April 24, 2015
Peer-review started: April 24, 2015
First decision: June 2, 2015
Revised: June 22, 2015
Accepted: September 2, 2015
Article in press: September 2, 2015
Published online: October 21, 2015
Processing time: 177 Days and 16.7 Hours
Abstract

Liver transplantation has emerged as a life-saving treatment for several patients with acute liver failure, end stage liver disease and primary hepatic malignancies. However, long term immunosuppressive therapy aiming to reduce the risk of transplant rejection increases the incidence of several complications including malignancies. This is illustrated by the observation of a high ratio between observed and expected cases of lymphoproliferative disorders following liver transplantation. Despite a huge heterogeneity in morphological appearance of these disorders ranging from reactive-like lesions to real lymphomas, they are collectively termed posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders. In this review we will provide an overview of this rare but challenging disorder as a complication of liver transplantation.

Keywords: Epstein Barr virus, Liver transplantation, Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders

Core tip: Prevention of organ rejection following solid organ transplantation requires long term immunosuppressive therapy, leading to an increased risk of infections and malignancies. Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) comprises one of the most serious complications following transplantation with high morbidity and mortality rates. In this article we will review the different aspects on PTLD following liver transplantation.