Apple Inc. CEO 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.

Patients with Jobs’ condition can survive for 20 years or more from the time of their original cancer diagnosis, and the surgery often gives good results, said Steven Brower, professor and chairman of surgery at Mercer University School of Medicine in Savannah, Ga., who hasn’t treated Jobs and doesn’t know details of his condition.

Jobs, who appeared increasingly thin and frail throughout 2008, hasn’t provided details about his condition.

In a Jan. 5 statement, Jobs said he was suffering from a “hormone imbalance” and that the remedy for his weight loss was “relatively simple.” On Jan. 14, he announced that he was taking a five-month medical leave because his health issues were “more complex” than he originally thought.

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.