Beliefs of Living Donors About Recipients' End-Stage Liver Failure and Surgery for Organ Donation.

BACKGROUND: The concept of beliefs could provide a basis for how donors may perceive recipients' end-stage liver failure (ESLF) and surgery for organ donation. However, there is no such quantitative study. Therefore, the objective of this study was to explore beliefs of living donors about recipients' ESLF and surgery for organ donation. METHODS: The sample comprised 16 living donors who donated a part of their liver to a patient who had ESLF. The data were analyzed by following established procedures for inductive qualitative analysis. RESULTS: Analysis showed that donors' beliefs can be viewed in a number of groups. Beliefs about recipients' ESLF included diverse explanations for ESLF (blaming oneself and physicians) and physical symptoms (developmental slowing down). Beliefs about being a donor included reasons for being a donor (performing a good deed, being healed), barriers to being a donor (other people being ignorant and selfish), ways to manage these barriers (following one's gut feeling), and factors facilitating being a donor (the feeling that one does not have many people to leave behind). Beliefs about surgery for organ donation included physical effects (pain, feeling stiff). Beliefs about organ donation included views that general organ donation should be encouraged and that people's awareness should be raised. CONCLUSIONS: Existing psychological perspectives could help to interpret some beliefs. Nevertheless, other beliefs, not previously reported, could be considered as targets for individual consultations/psycho-educational programs for fostering emotional well-being.

Liver Transplantation: Recipients' Evaluation of Life From the Perspective of Living Donors.

AIM: Liver transplantation affects not only recipients and living donors' lives, but also the nature and quality of their relationship. Moreover, the ways in which recipients of liver transplant experience life and views of living donors on how recipients experience life may differ. These differences may account for relational changes. It is also important to understand how recipients and their living donors' views differ if the aim is to devise psychoeducational programs for recipients and living donors. Therefore, the present study examined the recipients' experience of life after a diagnosis of end-stage liver failure (ESLF) and transplantation surgery from donors' perspective. METHODS: The sample consisted of 16 living donors who donated a part of their liver to a patient with ESLF. Thematic analysis was undertaken in parallel with interviews during which an interview guide was followed. FINDINGS: Donors felt that recipients evaluated life after the diagnosis of ESLF and transplantation surgery in terms of limitations, mixed relationships, emotional changes, and improvement in life. CONCLUSION: Experience of social limitations, negative emotions, and the feeling that one is supported by others could be interpreted in terms of existing psychological theory. Some ways of adjusting that have not been reported before within the context of ESLF extended the literature. These included others being frightened of being infected by ESLF and being insensitive, experience of positive emotions, and ways of improving. Overall, compared with findings of previous qualitative work among recipients, our findings suggest that donors' evaluation of recipients' lives converge with that of recipients.

Living donor liver transplantation: a life-saving option in emergency situations for diffuse hepatic neuroendocrine tumor metastasis.

Liver metastasis is the main cause of death in patients with gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs), but only 10%-20% of metastasis in these cases is resectable at the time of diagnosis. In some cases, medical and interventional radiological treatments may not be effective. Liver transplantation, although controversial, may be an option. Worldwide organ-sharing systems do not provide exception points, but give recommendations for liver transplantation in cases of hepatic metastasis from GEP-NETs due to the issue of fair access to donor organs. Living donor liver transplantation is an option in select cases. Presented here are 2 cases in which living donor liver transplantation was performed in emergency situations as a life-saving procedure, with acceptable survival and without donor complications.

Acquired factor XI deficiency: a rare complication after liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND: A majority of coagulation factors are synthesized in the liver. Factor XI (FXI) deficiency (Rosenthal syndrome) is one of the rare inherited coagulation disorders with an extremely low risk of transmission by liver transplantation (LT). CASE REPORT: We report here the case of a 50-year-old man who unknowingly acquired FXI deficiency by LT. During 1 year of post-transplant follow-up, his activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) remained prolonged, but he did not develop bleeding complications. The patient required retransplantation due to chronic rejection and is currently doing well 4 years after his first liver transplantation. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a prolonged aPTT in a deceased donor should raise suspicion for the presence of rare coagulation factor deficiencies. During urgent, lifesaving procedures such as LT, it may be impossible to avoid transmission. Awareness of this possibility will allow early detection and management.

Cadaveric liver transplantation in biliary atresia splenic malformation syndrome with the absence of retrohepatic inferior vena cava, preduodenal portal vein, and intestinal malrotation: a case report.

A 9-month-old female infant with biliary atresia underwent cadaveric liver transplantation due to progressive cholestatic hepatitis following a Kasai operation. She had biliary atresia splenic malformation syndrome (BASM) composed of an absent retrohepatic inferior vena cava with an azygous connection, preduodenal portal vein, polysplenia, and intestinal malrotation. A portal vein thrombosis developed on the 4th postoperative day requiring immediate treatment by thrombectomy. The patient is well with normal liver function at 3 months follow-up. Although BASM may render the transplantation more difficult, the presence of BASM is no longer a contraindication to liver transplantation.