Ten cases of living related liver transplantation carried out by cooperative surgical teams in the two separate institutions - Donor hepatectomy, its postoperative course and complications

Abstract

Ten cases of living related liver transplantation (LRLT) were carried out by cooperative surgery between two separate institutions, from January 1995 to December 1998. In this report, the postoperative course and the safety of donor hepatectomy were evaluated, and also, the psychological state of the donors were investigated by a questionnaire. The donors were 8 mothers and 2 fathers, their age ranged from 25 to 46 years. All were completely healthy with no hematological or biochemical abnormalities. Four lateral segmentectomies, 3 extended lateral segmentectomies and 3 left lobectomies were carried out. The mean intraoperative blood loss was 687 g, and the mean operative time was 7 hour 33 minutes. Eight cases required autologous blood transfusion. Two cases of postoperative complications were observed; bile leakage from the cut edge in 1 and transient elevation of transaminase in 1, which required only conservative treatment. The mean postoperative hospital stay was 17.6 days. The mean graft-transport time between the two institutions was 15.2 minutes. Eight recipients are alive with normal liver function, and two recipients had functional grafts but died of complications. The questionnaire presented several concerns of donors before LRLT. The present results demonstrate the safety of donor hepatectomy of LRLT carried out by cooperative surgery between two separate institutions. Graft transportation did not affect graft viability. The separation of institutions seemed to be only a minor demerit in the estimation of the donors. However, psychological support and care for the donors before and after LRLT should be recommended.