No diffuse intrahepatic biliary stricture after ABO-incompatible adult living donor liver transplantation using tailored rituximab-based desensitization protocol

Abstract

BACKGROUND Rituximab (RTx) desensitization protocol offered good outcome in ABO-incompatible (ABOi) living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). However, diffuse intrahepatic biliary stricture (DIHBS) is still inevitable hurdle. We selectively added postoperative high dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and/or simultaneous splenectomy if ABO isoagglutinin titer just before liver transplantation after plasma exchange (PE) was higher than 1/16. Herein, we reported the excellent outcome of ABOi LDLT without DIHBS using tailored desensitization protocol and compared it with that of ABO-compatible (ABOc) LDLT. METHODS Sixty-five cases (14.8%) of ABOi LDLTs were performed among 438 primary adult LDLTs in our center between March 2012 and June 2017. We performed 1-to-2 propensity score matching (PSM) to extract 60 cases of ABOi LDLTs and 120 cases of ABOc LDLTs. RESULTS There were no significant differences in clinical characteristics between ABOi and ABOc recipients. There were no significant differences in complications and rejection. There was no DIHBS in both groups. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year overall survival rates were 98.3%, 86.7%, and 82.9% in ABOi group and 96.7%, 86.7%, and 85.4% in ABOc group, respectively (P=0.88). Most common cause of deaths of both groups was hepatocellular recurrence. The 1-, 3-, and 5-year biliary complication (anastomosis leakage or stricture) free survival rates were 81.4%, 69.5%, and 67.5% in ABOi group and 83.0%, 81.3%, and 80.0% in ABOc group, with no significant differences (P=0.11). CONCLUSIONS RTx-based tailored (optional IVIG + splenectomy) desensitization protocol for ABOi LDLT was feasible and acceptable.