100 consecutive liver transplants in infants and children: an 8-year experience.
Orthotopic liver transplantation has become the treatment of choice for most children and infants with end-stage liver disease. The purpose of this retrospective study was to examine the results of 100 consecutive liver transplants performed in infants and children at a single institution. During an 8-year study period (July 1984 to December 1992), 100 pediatric liver transplants were performed in 76 patients. Thirty-four patients (44.7%) were infants (mean age, 7.0 months; mean weight, 6.1 kg), and 42 (55.3%) were children (mean age, 8.2 years; mean weight, 30.6 kg). There were 36 reduced-size liver transplants (RLT) and 64 whole-size transplants (WLT). Eight infants (23.5%) and 10 children (20.7%) required retransplantation. After transplantation, 71% of the patients had one or more rejection episodes, 66% had one or more infections, 17.1% had biliary complications, and 39.4% required one or more reoperations. There were 17 deaths. The actuarial 8-year survival rate for the patients with biliary atresia was 82.3%; for all infants in this series, it was 77.6%. No difference in patient survival was noted when RLT was compared with WLT. The overall 8-year actuarial patient survival rate for infants and children was 77.3%.
Eckhoff
D E
DE
Department of Surgery, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Madison.
D'Alessandro
A M
AM
Knechtle
S J
SJ
Pirsch
J D
JD
Ploeg
R J
RJ
Judd
R H
RH
Belzer
F O
FO
Kalayoglu
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate