Improved survival in children with HPS: Experience from two high volume liver transplant centers across continents

Challenges faced in establishing a pediatric liver transplant program in a lower-middle-income country with free healthcare service

BACKGROUND

Liver transplant is the cure for children with liver failure. Sri Lanka is a lower-middle-income country with a predominant free, state health system. Pediatric liver transplant program in Sri Lanka is still in the budding state where the initial experience of the program is yet to be documented.

METHODS

A retrospective review was performed including the clinical characteristics of all pediatric liver transplant recipients of Colombo North Centre for Liver Diseases since the inception of the program from June 2020 to May 2023.

RESULTS

There were 14 PLT performed in 3 years. The median recipient age and weight were 8 years (6 months-15 years) and 23.3 kg (6.4-49.2), respectively. The majority were boys (64%). All were from low-income backgrounds. Indications for LT were acute liver failure (5/14), decompensated chronic liver disease (5/14), and acute on chronic liver failure (4/14). Underlying liver diseases were Wilson disease (6/14), autoimmune liver disease (3/14), biliary atresia (2/14) and progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type 3 (1/14), and unknown etiology (2/14). The majority were living donor liver transplants (86%). Of the living donors, 42% (5/12) were Buddhist priests. There were three immediate deaths and two late deaths. The 3-month survival was 78%, and overall survival was 64%. Living donor transplants carried a higher success rate (92%) compared to diseased donor transplants (0%; 2/2).

CONCLUSIONS

Initial experience of pediatric liver transplant program of Sri Lanka is promising despite being established in a free healthcare system amidst the crisis circumstances.

Model for End-Stage Liver Disease/Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease exception policy and outcomes in pediatric patients with hepatopulmonary syndrome requiring liver transplantation

Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is associated with increased waitlist mortality in liver transplantation (LT) candidates. Children with HPS are granted Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD)/Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease (PELD) exception points for waitlist prioritization in the United States based on criterion developed for adults. In this study, the impact of this MELD/PELD exception policy on post-LT survival in children was examined. A retrospective cohort of patients aged younger than 18 years with a MELD/PELD exception request who underwent LT between 2007 and 2018 were identified in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. Patients were stratified by waitlist partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO 2 ) to assess risk factors for waitlist mortality and post-LT survival. Among 3082 pediatric LT recipients included in the study, 124 patients (4%) received MELD/PELD exception points for HPS. Patients with HPS were a median age of 9 years (interquartile range: 6, 12 years), 54.8% were girls, and 54% were White. Most patients (87.9%) were listed with laboratory MELD/PELD scores <15. Waitlist mortality for patients with HPS exception points was rare and not different from patients without HPS. When stratified by pre-LT PaO 2 , hypoxemia severity was not associated with differences in 1-, 3-, or 5-year survival rates after LT ( p = 0.13). However, patients with HPS showed a slightly lower survival rate at 5 years compared with patients without HPS (88.7% vs. 93.4%; p = 0.04). MELD/PELD exceptions for children with HPS mitigated waitlist mortality, and recipients with HPS experienced excellent 5-year survival after LT, although slightly lower than in patients without HPS. Unlike adults with HPS, the severity of pre-LT hypoxemia in children does not impact post-LT survival. These data suggest that adult criteria for granting MELD/PELD exception points may not appropriately capture HPS severity in pediatric patients. Further prospective multicenter studies to examine the risk factors predicting negative survival outcomes in children with HPS are warranted.