Substance use disorders in transplant patients

Abstract

Alcohol, tobacco, and other substance use disorders are common in the general population and have significant medical complications. These disorders may cause or contribute to end-organ failure and the need for organ transplant. Post-transplant survival may be negatively impacted by pre-and post-transplant tobacco, alcohol, and other substance use. There is currently no consensus regarding the evaluation of transplant candidates with tobacco, alcohol, and other substance use disorders. There are concerns that some of these patients may be at high risk for relapse to alcohol, tobacco, and substance use and nonadherence resulting in poor transplant outcomes, medical complications, and premature death. Many studies have been done, but have not produced clear results on methods of predicting relapse in this population.