Steroid-free liver transplantation using RATG and early tacrolimus monotherapy effectively reduces immunosuppression-related complications with excellent survival.

and 2 Multi-Organ Transplant Institute, Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans, LA Liver transplantation (LT) with donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors has been associated with a high rate of ischemic-type biliary strictures (ITBSs) and inferior graft survival. To investigate the impact of an intraoperative tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) on outcomes following DCD LT, we conducted a retrospective analysis of DCD LT at the Toronto General Hospital (TGH) and the Ochsner Medical Center (OMC). Between 2009 and 2013, 85 DCD LTs were performed with an intraoperative tPA injection (n 5 30 at TGH, n 5 55 at OMC), and they were compared with 33 DCD LTs without a tPA. Donor and recipient characteristics were similar in the 2 groups. There was no significant difference in the intraoperative packed red blood cell transfusion requirement (3.2 6 3.4 versus 3.1 6 2.3 U, P 5 0.74). Overall, biliary strictures occurred less commonly in the tPA-treated group (16.5% versus 33.3%, P 5 0.07) with a much lower rate of diffuse intrahepatic strictures (3.5% versus 21.2%, P 5 0.005). After 1 and 3 years, the tPA group versus the non-tPA group had superior patient survival (97.6% versus 87.0% and 92.7% versus 79.7%, P 5 0.016) and graft survival (96.4% versus 69.7% and 90.2% versus 63.6%, P < 0.001). In conclusion, a tPA injection into the hepatic artery during DCD LT reduces ITBSs and improves graft and patient survival without increasing the risk for bleeding. Liver Transpl 21:321-328, 2015. The use of liver transplantation (LT) as a lifesaving treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease continues to be primarily limited by donor organ availability. Donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors represent an important potential source to expand the donor pool for LT. However, posttransplant outcomes following DCD LT have to date been inferior in comparison with outcomes following LT with donation after brain death (DBD) donors. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Despite an increased use of DCD livers in the early part of the past decade, utilization has decreased in recent years as a result of inferior outcomes. 9 Biliary complications are the main contributor to inferior outcomes in DCD LT, with reported biliary stricture rates between 30% and 50% (more than double the rate for LT from DBD donors). The higher rate

Donation after circulatory death (DCD) liver transplantation (LT) reportedly yields inferior survival and increased complication rates compared with donation after brain death (DBD). We compare 100 consecutive DCD LT using a protocol that includes thrombolytic therapy (late DCD group) to an historical DCD group (early DCD group n = 38) and a cohort of DBD LT recipients (DBD group n = 435). Late DCD LT recipients had better 1- and 3-year graft survival rates than early DCD LT recipients (92% vs. 76.3%, p = 0.03 and 91.4% vs. 73.7%, p = 0.01). Late DCD graft survival rates were comparable to those of the DBD group (92% vs. 93.3%, p = 0.24 and 91.4% vs. 88.2%, p = 0.62). Re-transplantation occurred in 18.4% versus 1% for the early and late DCD groups, respectively (p = 0.001). Patient survival was similar in all three groups. Ischemic-type biliary lesions (ITBL) occurred in 5%, 3%, and 0.2% for early DCD, late DCD, and DBD groups, respectively, but unlike in the early DCD group, in the late DCD group ITBL was endoscopically managed and resolved in each case. Using a protocol that includes a thrombolytic therapy, DCD LT yielded patient and graft survival rates comparable to DBD LT.