Planned third-party transfusions prior to first transplantations from liver related donors.

Seventy-nine first living related donor transplants performed in Gothenburg, Sweden, from April 1977 to October 1980 were studied. The patient survival was 97% at 30 months. The graft survival in HLA-identical sibling combination was 100%. Thirty previously non-transfused recipients of one-haplotype mismatched grafts were given 2 units of third-party blood as preparation for transplantation. The graft survival was 92% at 30 months. No patients became sensitized against their donor. Thirty-one recipients of haplotype-mismatched grafts, previously transfused for medical reasons, had a graft survival of 82% at 30 months. The deliberate third-party blood transfusion protocol has been rewarding and resulted in a highly satisfactory graft survival.