The standard liver volume (LV) of a recipient is estimated in liver transplantation to determine the minimum LV necessary for the recipient. Simple linear formulas of LV estimation were developed for the Japanese and Caucasian populations. The present study examined the applicability of the reported formulas to the Korean population. Liver density ( L iver transplantation is a gold standard of therapy for a patient with end-stage liver disease. Living donor liver transplantation and split liver transplantation were originally developed to overcome the shortage of pediatric donors. 1 Since living donor liver transplantation was successfully applied to an adult patient, 2 the practice of adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation has steadily increased in countries where living donors are practically the only source of organs due to the scarcity of cadaver donors. 3 -6 A major concern in liver transplantation is to determine the minimum graft volume required for a recipient to meet his or her metabolic demand. 7 -9 The transplantation of a large-for-size graft to a small recipient can pose an increased risk of immunological impairments and graft and vascular compromises due to compression. 10 On the other hand, the transplantation of a small-for-size graft to a large recipient may cause impaired metabolic functions of the liver, such as hyperbilirubinemia and coagulopathy, and reduce the probability of graft survival after implantation. 7,11 It is generally accepted that a ratio of graft volume to standard liver volume (LV) needs to be at least 30% to 40% to fit the hepatic metabolic demand of the recipient. 3,6,7 Accurate estimation of standard LV is vital at the preoperative stage to determine the minimum LV necessary for the recipient and to evaluate qualification of the donor.Urata et al. 12 and Heinemann et al. 13 established simple linear equations that estimate standard LV from body surface area (BSA) in the Japanese and Caucasian populations, respectively. However, these formulas produced LV estimates quite different from each other. 13 The aims of the present study were to examine the applicability of the reported formulas to the Korean population and to develop a better model of LV estimation as necessary.
Materials and Methods
Liver Density DeterminationThe data of liver weight (LW) and LV were collected by measuring 24 healthy livers. The livers were weighed and their volumes were measured by the principle of Archimedes. Liver density (LD) was calculated by LW / LV.
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