Right Lobe Adult Living-Donor Liver Transplantation

Our Living Donor Protocol for Liver Transplant: A SingleCenter Experience

OBJECTIVES

The shortage of deceased donor organs is a limiting factor in transplant. The growing discrepancy between the wait list demand versus the supply of deceased donor organs has created an incentive for consideration of living donor liver transplant as an alternative. Here, we describe our evaluation process and donor complications.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Since 1988, we have performed 659 (449 living donor and 210 deceased donor) liver transplants. The most important evaluation criteria is the relationship between donor and recipient, and we require thatthe donor must be related to the recipient. The evaluation protocol has 5 stages. Donor complications were defined as simple, moderate, and severe.

RESULTS

We retrospectively investigated data for 1387 candidates, and 938 (67.7%) were rejected; subsequently, 449 living donor liver transplants were performed. There were no complications in 398 of the donors (88.7%). Total complication rate was 11.3%. Simple complications were seen in 31 patients (6.9%). Moderate complications were seen in 19 patients (4.2%). We had only 1 severe complication, ie, organ failure from unspecified liver necrosis, which resulted in death.

CONCLUSIONS

The relationship between donor and recipient and donor safety should be the primary focus for living donor liver transplant. Donor selection should be made carefully to minimize complications and provide adequately functional grafts.

Biliary complications following living donor hepatectomy

BACKGROUND

Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has become increasingly common in an effort to increase organ availability for the treatment of end-stage liver disease. Donor safety is a primary concern in LDLT. The majority of complications experienced by living donors are infectious or biliary in nature. The purpose of this paper was to review the existing literature on biliary complications in living donors.

METHODS

Studies were eligible for inclusion if they were published in English between 2006-present, focused on adult-to-adult LDLT, and were available via PubMed/MEDLINE.

RESULTS

A total of 33 studies reporting outcomes from 12,653 donors (right lobe: 8231, left lobe: 4422) were included. Of 33 studies, 12 reported outcomes from right lobe donors, 1 from left lobe donors, 14 compared left and right, and 6 focused specifically on biliary complications. A total of 830 biliary complications (6.6%) were reported, with 75 donors requiring re-operation for biliary complications and 1 donor death attributed to biliary complications.

CONCLUSION

Although bile leaks and strictures are still relatively common following living donor hepatectomy, the majority of complications are minor and resolve with conservative measures. Approximately 6% of living donors will experience a biliary complication and, of these 6%, approximately 9% (total of 0.6% of donors) will require operative management of the biliary complication.