Feasibility and safety of using low-body-weight donors in pediatric liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND

Donors with low-body-weight were previously reported to be related to inferior recipient outcomes in pediatric liver transplantation. However, the scarce availability of age and size-matched organs has encouraged us to re-evaluate the feasibility and safety of using low-body-weight donors.

METHODS

We retrospectively analyzed 91 deceased donor pediatric liver transplantation between January 2014 and December 2016, donor weight less than 5 kg was defined as low-body-weight donors. The recipients were divided into two groups according to donor weight. (≤5 kg and 5 kg < to ≤20 kg). Donor and recipient characteristics, perioperative data, postoperative complications as well as graft and recipient survival rate were compared

RESULTS

The recipients and grafts recovery after transplantation were comparable between two groups. The recipients receiving low-body-weight donors showed higher risk of hepatic artery thrombosis and small-for-size syndrome, however, these complications can effectively be treated by our strategies. The 2-year patient survival rates were 92.9% and 95.2%, 2-year graft survival rates were 92.9% and 93.7% in Groups 1 and 2, without significant difference.

CONCLUSIONS

Our finding suggested that the utility of livers from low-body-weight donors is a potential strategy to increase donor availability in well-selected pediatric recipients.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III.