Apple’s Jobs Said to Be Considering Liver Transplant
Steve Jobs is considering a liver transplant as a result of complications after treatment for pancreatic cancer in 2004, according to people who are monitoring his illness.
In a telephone interview today, Jobs said he won’t comment further on his health.
“Why don’t you guys leave me alone -- why is this important?” Jobs said.
Apple spokesman Steve Dowling declined to comment. The company’s board members -- including Intuit Inc. Chairman Bill Campbell, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt -- either couldn’t be reached or declined to comment.
Brower said the transplant might work out well in a patient whose neuroendocrine cancer began in the pancreas, in part because this tumor type often spreads only to the liver and grows so slowly. Even after having had a Whipple procedure, a patient might expect to have good quality of life, he said.
“The outcome can be quite good,” he said. “With immunosuppressive drugs, the patient can expect to have a significant, durable life expectancy.”
Some liver transplant patients get part of an organ from a living donor. After the operation, the livers of the donor and recipient grow back to normal size.
A patient getting a liver transplant for a neuroendocrine tumor that has spread from the pancreas might get a partial organ, Brower said. Complete organs that come from cadavers are in short supply, and are generally reserved for patients with liver failure, cirrhosis or certain kinds of liver cancer, he said.
Companies have a requirement to clear up any misleading information on a CEO’s health, said Stanley Sporkin, a former federal judge and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement director. While the SEC doesn’t require a company to disclose health information, the company still should, he said.
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