Successful living donor liver transplantation for acute liver failure after acetylsalicylic acid overdose

A 20-year-old woman was admitted to an emergency hospital after ingesting 66 g of acetylsalicylic acid in a suicide attempt. Although she was treated with gastric lavage, oral activated charcoal, and intravenous hydration with sodium bicarbonate, her hepatic and renal function gradually deteriorated and serum amylase levels increased. Steroid pulse therapy, plasma exchange, and continuous hemodiafiltration did not yield any improvement in her hepatic or renal function, and she was transferred to our hospital for living donor liver transplantation. Nine days after drug ingestion, she developed hepatic encephalopathy: thus, we diagnosed the patient with acute liver failure with hepatic coma accompanied by acute pancreatitis due to the overdose of acetylsalicylic acid. Living donor liver transplantation was immediately performed using a left lobe graft from the patient’s mother. Following transplantation, the patient’s renal and hepatic function and consciousness improved, and she was discharged. In this report, we describe a rare case of acetylsalicylic acid-induced acute liver failure with acute hepatic coma and concomitant acute pancreatitis and acute renal failure, which were treated successfully with emergency living donor liver transplantation.