Circuitous Path to Live Donor Liver Transplantation from the Coordinator’s Perspective

Background: The live donor liver transplantation (LDLT) process is circuitous and requires a considerable amount of coordination and matching in multiple aspects that the literature does not completely address. From the coordinators’ perspective, we systematically analyzed the time and risk factors associated with interruptions in the LDLT process. Methods: In this retrospective single center study, we reviewed the medical records of wait-listed hospitalized patients and potential live donors who arrived for evaluation. We analyzed several characteristics of transplant candidates, including landmark time points of accompanied live donation evaluation processes, time of eventual LDLT, and root causes of not implementing LDLT. Results: From January 2014 to January 2021, 417 patients (342 adults and 75 pediatric patients) were enrolled, of which 331 (79.4%) patients completed the live donor evaluation process, and 205 (49.2%) received LDLT. The median time from being wait-listed to the appearance of a potential live donor was 19.0 (interquartile range 4.0–58.0) days, and the median time from the appearance of the donor to an LDLT or a deceased donor liver transplantation was 68.0 (28.0–188.0) days. The 1-year mortality rate for patients on the waiting list was 34.3%. Presence of hepatitis B virus, encephalopathy, and hypertension as well as increased total bilirubin were risk factors associated with not implementing LDLT, and biliary atresia was a positive predictor. The primary barriers to LDLT were a patient’s critical illness, donor’s physical conditions, motivation for live donation, and stable condition while on the waiting list. Conclusions: Transplant candidates with potential live liver donors do not necessarily receive LDLT. The process requires time, and the most common reason for LDLT failure was critical diseases. Aggressive medical support and tailored management policies for these transplantable patients might help reduce their loss during the process.

Middle hepatic vein incorporation in live donor liver graft transplantation; implication and safety

Background: In this study, we have used the middle hepatic vein with the right lobe, and we studied the venous outflow dynamics immediately after transplant retrospectively meanwhile we studied the impact of the graft function on donor functionality and overall donor safety. Method: Between October 2017 to October 2020, we performed 40 adult to adult live donor liver transplants at Zheen International Hospital (Erbil, Kurdistan Region). Postoperative Doppler ultrasound was performed for recipients and donors immediately after surgery and then daily until discharge. Results: The donor age (28.5 ± 6.9) year, male/ female 19/ 21, intensive care unit stay (1.2 ± 0.43), floor stay (5.2 ± 1.4) days, their portal vein velocity (43.5 ± 18.4 ml/sec), hepatic artery resistive index (0.6 ± 0.09) and triphasic/ continuous venous outflow 30/10, their postoperative day one and at the discharge total serum bilirubin were (2.8 ± 1.8) and (2 ± 1.4), their postoperative day one and at the discharge international normalization ratio were (1.7 ± 0.5) and (1.2 ± 0.2) respectively. The recipient age (48.5 ± 11.3), male/female 27/13, intensive care unit stay (4.75 ± 3.9), floor stay (7.7 ± 3.7) days, portal vein velocity (63.96 ± 24.65 ml/sec), hepatic artery peak systolic velocity (74.76 ± 32.85) hepatic artery resistive index (0.7 ± 0.15), and triphasic/continuous venous outflow 27/13. Conclusions: Middle hepatic vein incorporation in live donor liver graft is safe with a favorable outcome for recipient and donor, doppler US is one the important tool for evaluation and follow up of donor and recipient for detection of vascular complications and assessment of venous outflow and graft function. In addition, early discharge of the donor is a reasonable option.

Work-flow Protocol for Preoperative COVID-19 Testing of the “Transplant Pair” in a Live Donor Liver Transplant Program

The “Type of Article” of this paper is “Letter to the Editor”. This paper discuses about: “ Work-flow Protocol for Preoperative COVID-19 Testing of the “Transplant Pair” in a Live Donor Liver Transplant Program ”. No formal abstract is available. Readers are requested to read the full article.