ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the clinical efficacy of pediatric blood type incompatible living donor liver transplantation. Methods The clinical data from 242 cases of pediatric living donor liver transplantation recipients were retrospectively analyzed. Recipients were assigned to group A (ABO-identical group, n=165), group B (ABO-compatible group, n=42) and group C (ABO-incompatible group, n=35) according to the blood type compatibility between the recipients and the donors. The occurrence of postoperative complications and development of postoperative donor specific antibody (DSA) among the 3 groups were observed and compared. And the blood type distribution of donors and recipients and development of erythrocyte antibodies in group C were analyzed. The survival situation of recipients after liver transplantation was compared among the 3 groups. Results There was no significant difference in the incidence of complications among the 3 groups(all P > 0.05). DSA was dominated by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) Ⅱ antibodies after liver transplantation, mostly anti-HLA-DR and anti-HLA-DQ. The postoperative erythrocyte antibodies for liver transplant recipients in group C were dominated by IgM, with titers ≤1:2 for all. The differences in postoperative survival rates were not statistically significant among 3 groups(all P > 0.05). Conclusions Pediatric blood type incompatible living donor liver transplantation is a safe and effective treatment, which can effectively expand the source of liver transplant donors and save the children's lives.