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Living related liver transplants: preliminary report on an initial experience in Italy
Author(s) -
Gruttadauria S.,
Mandala’ L.,
Cintorino D.,
Biondo D.,
Panarello G.,
Verzaro R.,
Spada M.,
Marsh J.W.,
Marcos A.,
Gridelli B.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
clinical transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1399-0012
pISSN - 0902-0063
DOI - 10.1111/j.1399-0012.2006.00577_3_2.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cirrhosis , hepatocellular carcinoma , liver transplantation , gastroenterology , surgery , transplantation , abo blood group system , survival rate
Living related liver transplantation has become the treatment for many liver diseases. We present our initial analysis on 42 cases of adult‐to‐adult living related liver transplants (ALRLTs) performed in a single institution in Italy. Materials and methods: From January 2002 to February 2006, we performed 42 ALRLTs. The donors (age 18 to 53) all had genetic or emotional relationships; they were all ABO‐identical or ABO‐compatible. Recipients (age 18 to 68) suffered from cirrhosis secondary to viral etiology (n=13), hepatocellular carcinoma on viral cirrhosis (n=21), cystic fibrosis (n=2), primary biliary cirrhosis (n=2), hepatocellular carcinoma on nonviral cirrhosis (n=2), alcoholic cirrhosis (n=1), and metastatic carcinoid to the liver (n=1). Donor liver resection resulted in 40 right hepatectomies and 2 left hepatectomies. Graft body weight ratio was always above 1%; graft implantation was performed with the piggyback technique, and in 32 cases with the use of venovenous bypass. Results: There was no donor mortality; 4 donors had biliary complications. The actuarial recipient survival rate at 3 years was 89.25% and the graft survival rate was 82.69%. Graft loss occurred in 7 patients: 5 patients underwent retransplants (4 because of hepatic artery thrombosis, 1 because of graft dysfunction), and 2 patients had 1 episode of acute cellular rejection. Conclusion: ALRLTs represent a resource to face the organ shortage in a region where the deceased donor donation rate is 7.2 donors per year per million.