Introduction:

Liver transplantation is an effective treatment for patients with chronic or acute terminal liver disease, including autoimmune hepatitis (HAI). Autoimmune hepatitis is a heterogeneous group of liver diseases that most frequently affect the female sex, characterized by necrotic-inflammatory lesions, immunologically mediated and with multifactorial origin.

Objectives:

To determine the prevalence, the demographic characteristics, the severity of liver disease and the diagnosis of HAI treated with liver transplants in Paraguay.

Material and methods:

Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study with prospectively collected data of adult patients of both sexes, treated with liver transplant for autoimmune hepatitis in decompensated cirrhotic stage, in the Liver Transplant Unit of the Hospital de Clínicas, Faculty of Medical Sciences, National University of Asunción, from March 2015, until October 2018.

Results:

a total of 12 patients underwent liver transplantation. The majority of transplant patients were female, corresponding to 58.3% (7/12). The average age of the recipients was 39.4 years (19-61). The indications for liver transplantation were: autoimmune hepatitis in decompensated cirrhotic stage in 50% (6/12) of cases, primary sclerosing cholangitis in 16.6% (2/12), cryptogenic cirrhosis in 16.6% (2 / 12), post colecistectomy surgical injury of the bile duct with secondary biliary cirrhosis in one case and finally, one case of fulminant hepatitis secondary to pharmacological hepatotoxicity. The patients transplanted for Autoimmune Hepatitis had an average age of 29.8 years (19-51) and the predominant sex was female, corresponding to 83.3% (5/6)of cases.

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