Living donor liver transplantation

Abstract

The introduction of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been one of the most remarkable steps in the field of liver transplantation (LT). First introduced for children in 1989, its adoption for adults has followed only 10 years later. As the demand for LT continues to increase, LDLT provides life-saving therapy for many patients who would otherwise die awaiting a cadaveric organ. In recent years, LDLT has been shown to be a clinically safe addition to deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) and has been able to significantly extend the scarce donor pool. As long as the donor shortage continues to increase, LDLT will play an important role in the future of LT.

Paediatric liver transplantation in Johannesburg revisited: 59 transplants and challenges met

“…[11] These are reported to occur in 3 -35% of paediatric liver transplants. [3,14] Our current incidence for the entire series is 24%, falling well within this range.…”

“…[9,10] An obviously life-saving operation for the recipient, the donor operation places an otherwise well individual at risk of morbidity and mortality, documented at 0 -67% morbidity (overall average 35%) and 0.2 -0.4% mortality. [11] In addition, the decision to donate needs to be made without coercion from other family members; [10] a meticulous psychosocial evaluation is mandatory prior to anatomical assessment of the potential donor. [10] Having paid close attention to these details, we initiated our LDLT programme in February 2013 with the assistance of a visiting surgeon (Prof. Langnas, Omaha, USA) for our first six cases.…”

An Overview of Current Status, Recent Techniques and Challenges of Liver Transplantation

“…However, living-donor partial liver grafts are also used. It allowed the preparation of two split grafts by dividing all vascular and biliary structures and parenchyma for the benefit of two recipients, one receiving a right lobe graft and the other receiving a left lobe (2-4 segments) or left lateral one (2-3 segments) (Nadalin et al, 2006).…”

Expectations from imaging for pre-transplant evaluation of living donor liver transplantation

“…Most of the adult recipients need a left or right liver graft; this decision depends on the residual volume of donor liver and size of the recipient. The techniques of right or left hepatectomy are fairly standardized worldwide [16][17][18] . Some controversy exists regarding the inclusion of the middle hepatic vein (MHV) with right or left sided grafts.…”