liver cirrhosis

Hi,

My father has been diagnosed of liver cirrhosis.he was in precoma and heaptic encephalopathy.but currently he is fine.grade 2 varices were seen for which ligation was done and now only residual varices are seen.Dr said currently there is no urgency to go for a transplant.i want to know with this history what is his life expectancy and when liver transplant will become necessity

[Thomas D Schiano, MD]

its always better to wait as long as possible before a transplant needs to be performed.  it sounds like these complications are readily treatable.  it does not hurt to be seen a liver transplant program however. its important to have the MELD score calculated and to screen for HCC.