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Getting Listed for Transplant Apr 6, 2018 | By Mayo Clinic Transplant Staff (@mayoclinictransplantstaff)Comment receiving replies
@mayoclinictransplantstaff I have had my transplant, at a different center than Mayo, but this is all pretty accurate for my center also. I have wondered though, and for some reason never asked at my center, what causes your MELD to increase if your labs have not changed significantly? I was at MELD 28 when I was transplanted but due soon for my MELD to increase. Does that just happen by virtue of the fact you are on the list? Also, does the transplant center have any leeway in choosing who will get the liver? Things were going downhill for me when I got the call but as I mentioned my MELD had not increased, and in Boston, where I was transplanted, MELD 28 is low to qualify. Would my having severe ascites at that point contributed to my getting "the call"? I also was having trouble with my blood work -- hemoglobin and hematocrit both were low, so low at one point that I was hospitalized for transfusions. I was pretty miserable. Someone said it was decided that it was my time but I assumed that they could not really make that decision.
Thanks. JK
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@contentandwell - we realized this morning after seeing @jerrydrennan's post come through that we never responded to your questions! So very sorry. We took them to Dr. Aqel, hepatologist and medical director of the liver transplant program at Mayo Clinic's campus in Arizona. Here's what he had to say regarding changing MELD scores: MELD changes with changes in the following labs: INR, creatinine, bilirubin, and Sodium. In the absence of lab changes, MELD can be increased if it was granted by the regional review board as MELD exception for a diagnosis of liver cancer for example. In those cases, once the MELD exception is granted, it will be scheduled to increase every 3 months while awaiting for transplant.