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By Mayo Clinic staffLiver transplant is a treatment option for people who have end-stage liver failure that can't be controlled using other treatments and for some people with liver cancer. Liver failure can occur rapidly, in a matter of weeks (acute liver failure), or it can occur slowly over months and years (chronic liver failure).
Liver failure has many causes, including:
- Liver cirrhosis
- Biliary duct atresia
- Cystic fibrosis
- Early-stage liver cancer
- Hemochromatosis
- Noncancerous (benign) liver tumors
- Primary biliary cirrhosis
- Primary sclerosing cholangitis
- Wilson's disease
Sometimes the cause of liver failure is unknown.
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