August 13 2004

Cheaper alternative to liver transplants

The posting of this press release at MedicalNewsToday on 12 August 2004

10,000th liver transplant performed in the UK James Watson, 54, has made history as the 10,000th patient to receive a liver transplant to be registered on the UK Transplant Database. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=11972 brought to mind several things. First, there is a cheaper alternative, namely, treatment of the diseased liver with alpha lipoic acid, a strong antioxidant. There is an American M.D. who, while working at a hospital in Pennsylvania, treated a person suffering from mushroom poisoning with massive injections of alpha lipoic acid. This is a $3,000 procedure, rather than the very expensive liver transplant. His hospital administration considered firing him, but the National Institutes of Health learned about his work and sent a person to investigate, so the administration backed off. When he did it a second time, they did fire him. He went to a hospital in the south and did it again, and, I think, lost his job again.

In the UK, they seem to be proud of the fact that they've reached the 10,000 liver transport. Not mentioned in the press release is how they obtain the livers. I wonder whether they are obtained from poor Indians, seeking to obtain a bit of money. I was able to get the following response posted at MedicalNewsToday:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/youropinions.php?opinionid=4487

Liver transplants can be avoided using alpha lipoic acid
posted by William B. Grant on 12 August 2004 at 9:16 pm

There is a much cheaper option for treating liver disease including hepatitis C and mushroom poisoning: treatment with alpha lipoic acid, silymarin, and selenium. Here is a paper reporting such for hepatitis C. I am also aware of similar treatments in the U.S. for mushroom poisoning.

Med Klin (Munich). 1999 Oct 15;94 Suppl 3:84-9.

A conservative triple antioxidant approach to the treatment of hepatitis C. Combination of alpha lipoic acid (thioctic acid), silymarin, and selenium: three case histories.

Berkson BM.

Integrative Medical Center of New Mexico,
New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, USA.
burt@zianet.com

BACKGROUND: There has been an increase in the number of adults seeking liver transplantation for hepatitis C in the last few years and the count is going up rapidly. There is no reliable and effective therapy for chronic hepatitis C since interferon and antivirals work no more than 30% of the time, and liver transplant surgery is uncertain and tentative over the long run. This is because, ultimately, residual hepatitis C viremia infects the new liver. Furthermore, liver transplantation can be painful, disabling and extremely costly.

TREATMENT PROGRAM: The author describes a low cost and efficacious treatment program in 3 patients with cirrhosis, portal hypertension and esophageal varices secondary to chronic hepatitis C infection. This effective and conservative regimen combines 3 potent antioxidants (alpha-lipoic acid [thioctic acid], silymarin, and selenium) that possess antiviral, free radical quenching and immune boosting qualities.

CONCLUSION: There are no remarkably effective treatments for chronic hepatitis C in general use. Interferon and antivirals have less than a 30% response rate and because of the residual viremia, a newly transplanted liver usually becomes infected again. The triple antioxidant combination of alpha-lipoic acid, silymarin and selenium was chosen for a conservative treatment of hepatitis C because these substances protect the liver from free radical damage, increase the levels of other fundamental antioxidants, and interfere with viral proliferation. The 3 patients presented in this paper followed the triple antioxidant program and recovered quickly and their laboratory values remarkably improved. Furthermore, liver transplantation was avoided and the patients are back at work, carrying out their normal activities, and feeling healthy. The author offers a more conservative approach to the treatment of hepatitis C, that is exceedingly less expensive. One year of the triple antioxidant therapy described in this paper costs less than $2,000, as compared to more than $300,000 a year for liver transplant surgery. It appears reasonable, that prior to liver transplant surgery evaluation, or during the transplant evaluation process, the conservative triple antioxidant treatment approach should be considered. If these is a significant betterment in the patient's condition, liver transplant surgery may be avoided.

Read the news article that this opinion was posted about: 10,000th liver transplant performed in the UK

In my opinion, this story regarding liver transplants shows how the standard medical response is to go with a very expensive option, rather than try to develop a much cheaper alternative. I don't know what it would take to turn the system around, but at least MedicalNewsToday is willing to post a dissenting opinion, and SUNARC is trying to identify alternatives.