ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Living related donor liver transplantation (LRLT) was introduced into our pediatric liver transplantation program as a response to the shortage of donors. This study was performed to evaluate the indication, complication and outcome of LRLT in children. METHODS: From December, 1994 to May, 1997, a total of 20 LRLTs had been performed at Asan Medical Center for end-stage liver disease. The patients ranged in age from 6 months to 14 years (median : 1 year 4 months) and in body weight from 5.8 to 50.5kg (median : 9.8kg). The indications for transplantation were biliary atresia (11), Wilson disease (3), nonsyndromic intrahepatic bile duct paucity (2), Byler syndrome (1), cirrhosis (1), fulminant hepatitis (1) and posthepatectomy bile duct stricture (1). Among them 3 ABO blood group incompatibilities were included. The lateral segment or the left lobe of the liver was used for the graft. As for immunosuppression, cyclosporin A based immunosuppression was used for the initial 11 cases which later changed into FK506 based for the last 9 cases. RESULTS: The actuarial survival rate of recipients was 90% for our cases. Two deaths occurred, one of whom died of acute respiratory distress syndrome due to respiratory syncytial virus infection on 51st postoperative day and the other died of gastrointestinal bleeding from Epstein- Barr virus infection and posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease on 11th postoperative month. No patient died of surgical complications. Acute rejection episodes were observed in 6 (5 among 11 cyclosporin A based immunosuppression and 1 among FK506 group) which were managed successfully. All donors (6 fathers and 14 mothers) are alive and well with normal activity. CONCLUSION: We concluded that LRLT is a promising option for alleviating the shortage of livers for pediatric transplantation.
Subject(s)
Child , Humans , Bile Ducts , Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic , Biliary Atresia , Blood Group Incompatibility , Body Weight , Constriction, Pathologic , Cyclosporine , Fathers , Fibrosis , Hemorrhage , Hepatitis , Hepatolenticular Degeneration , Immunosuppression Therapy , Liver Diseases , Liver Transplantation , Liver , Living Donors , Respiratory Distress Syndrome , Respiratory Syncytial Viruses , Survival Rate , Tacrolimus , Tissue Donors , TransplantsABSTRACT
To overcome the shortage of available organ in children, living-related liver transplantation(LRLT) has been introduced in Asan Medical Center since 1994. However, the use of graft livers across ABO blood groups is unavoidable since the organ donor is usually one of the recipient's parents in LRLT cases. In ABO-incompatible liver transplants from brain dead donors, the incidences of perioperative mortality, arterial thrombosis, and irreversible rejection and the rate of retransplantation have been reported to be greater. But recent reports from LRLT showed that 1-year survival rate of ABO incompatible cases were approximately 80%. So we started ABO incompatible LRLTs at our institute since Feb, 1996. Three cases of ABO incompatible LRLT have been performed thereafter, 2 with fulminant hepatitis and 1 with cirrhosis. Plasma pheresis or exchange transfusion was done to decrease isohemagglutinin perioperatively. Immunosuppression consisted of a quadruple-drug treatment in one, FK506 and steroid in two. The follow-up periods were 2, 4 and 13 months respectively. One child died of acute respiratory distress syndrome with normal graft function on 51st postoperative day. Two children are alive with good health, but one of them suffers S2 segment bile duct stricture, which is under the management with PTBD. The present results suggest that ABO incompatilbe LRLTs can be performed to overcome the shortage of the liver in children using a combination of the preioperative plasma pheresis and immunosuppression.