title: Experience after the evaluation of 700 potential donors for living donor liver transplantation in a single center.
abstract: Adequate selection of donors is a major prerequisite for living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Few centers report on the entire number of potential donors considered or rejected for living donation. From April 1998 to July 2003, a total of 111 living donor liver transplantations were performed at our institution, with 622 potential donors for 297 adult recipients and 78 potential donors for 52 pediatric recipients evaluated. In the adult group, only 89 (14%) potential donors were considered suitable, with a total of 533 (86%) potential donors rejected. Of these, 67% were excluded either at initial screening or during the first and second steps of the evaluation procedure. In 31% of all cases, the evaluation of donors was canceled because of recipient issues. In the pediatric group, 22 (28%) donors were selected, with the other 56 (72%) rejected. Costs of the complete evaluation process accounted for 4,589 Euro (Euro) per donor. The evaluation of a potential living donor is a complex and expensive process. We present the results on the evaluation of the largest group of potential donors for adults reported in the literature. Only 14% of potential donors in our series were considered suitable candidates. It has not yet been established who should cover the expenses of the evaluation of all rejected donors. In conclusion, all efforts should be made in order to develop an effective screening protocol for the evaluation of donors with the aim of saving time and resources for a liver transplantation program.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery and Transplantation, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany. camino.valentin@uni-essen.de
authors.forename: Camino
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Valentín-Gamazo
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malagó
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karliova
authors.forename: Juergen T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frilling
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nadalin
authors.forename: Giuliano
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Testa
authors.forename: Stefan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Ruehm
authors.forename: Yesim
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Erim
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Paul
authors.forename: Hauke
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gerken
authors.forename: Christoph E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Broelsch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000191:economics; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D016730:Program Development; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement