Liver transplantation for alcoholic liver disease.

Alcoholism is a disease of remission and relapse. A lapse in abstinence tends to be viewed as a failure to commit to abstinence, and an acknowledged relapse may lead to the patient's removal from the liver transplant list; however, such a relapse may actually offer insight into alcoholism. Liver transplant physicians should consider recognizing lapses in abstinence as slips that indicate a need for treatment of alcoholism. Further research should address which alcoholic liver patients suffer relapses and how alcohol relapse affects the ability to maintain abstinence before or after transplantation.