Comparison of Survival Outcomes After Deceased Donor Split Versus Whole Liver Transplant for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES

To mitigate waiting time forlivertransplant for hepatocellular carcinoma, partial or split liver transplant has been utilized. There was concern that regeneration of these grafts would negatively affect oncologic outcomes.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

We compared posttransplant graft survival between hepatocellular carcinoma whole livertransplant and partial/splitlivertransplant using Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients data (2002-2017). The 330 partial/split liver transplant recipients were compared with a logistic regressionbased propensity score 1:1 matched whole liver transplant cohort (n = 330) and a random unmatched whole livertransplant cohort(n = 4143). Kaplan-Meier and multivariable Cox regression models evaluated the effects of partial/split and whole liver transplant on survival.

RESULTS

Unadjusted analysis demonstrated no difference in graft survivalbetween thepartial/split and whole liver transplant cohorts (overall log-rank P = .78). After adjustments for recipient age, last laboratory Modelfor End-stage LiverDisease score, hepatitisBviral infection co-diagnosis, liver donor risk index, donor historyofdiabetes, anddonorbodymass index category were made (all P ⟨ .05), multivariable analysis demonstrated no statistically significant difference in the risk of graftfailure in thepartial/splitlivertransplant cohort compared with either the matched or random whole livertransplant cohort (both P ≥ .23).

CONCLUSIONS

Partial/split liver transplant was not an independent risk factor for graft failure. Additional studies are needed to further elucidate differences in these populations to determine the "right" candidate for partial/split liver transplant.