title: Evaluation of living liver donors.
abstract: Preoperative evaluation of donors for living-donor liver transplantation aims to select a suitable donor with optimal graft quality and to ensure donor safety. There are minor variations in the donor selection process among different centers, but the safety of the donor remains central to the entire process. The potential donors are evaluated in a stepwise manner including medical, physical, laboratory, psychosocial, and imaging assessment to disqualify unsuitable donors as early as possible in the evaluation process. The main goal of the imaging study is to provide an accurate picture of liver vascular anatomy and liver volume measurement for surgical guidance or for exclusion of unsuitable donors. All imaging studies can now be obtained using noninvasive modalities, thereby decreasing the risk associated with the donor evaluation process. This article describes the donor selection practice in our center including the details of the imaging evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplant Program, Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yaw-Sen
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yu-Fan
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Vanessa H
authors.initials: VH
authors.lastname: De Villa
authors.forename: Chih-Chi
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chih-Che
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Tung-Liang
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jawan
authors.forename: Chao-Long
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000792:Angiography; D001706:Biopsy; D005234:Fatty Liver / Q000175:diagnosis; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006503:Hepatic Veins / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D018579:Patient Selection; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014463:Ultrasonography