Anesthesia-related complications in living liver donors: the experience from one center and the reporting of one death.

Living donor liver transplantation has become an alternative therapy for patients with end-stage liver disease. Donors are healthy individuals and donor safety is the primary concern. The objective of this study was to evaluate the anesthetic complications and outcomes for our donor cases; we report one death. The charts of the patients who underwent donor hepatectomy from February 1997 to June 2007 were retrospectively reviewed. Right hepatectomy (resection of segments 5-8) was done in 101 donors, left lobectomy (resection of segments 2-3) in 11 donors, and left hepatectomy (resection of segments 2-4) in one donor. Minor anesthetic complications were shoulder pain, pruritus and urinary retention related to epidural morphine, and major morbidity included central venous catheter-induced thrombosis of the brachial and subclavian vein, neuropraxia, foot drop and prolonged postdural puncture headache. One of 113 donors died from pulmonary embolism on the 11th postoperative day. This procedure has some major risks related to anesthesia and surgery. Although careful attention will lower complication rate, we have to keep in mind that the risks of donor surgery will not be completely eliminated.