Results of 132 hepatectomies for living donor liver transplantation: report of one death.
OBJECTIVE
Liver transplant is the primary therapy for patients with end-stage liver disease. Its high success rates have lead to a broadening of the indications for liver transplantation, resulting in an increasing shortage of donors. Living donor liver transplantation has become an option to overcome waiting list mortality. We describe our experience with hepatectomy for living donor liver transplantation and report a case of death.


METHODS
Patients (n = 132) underwent hepatectomy for living donor liver transplantation from June 2000 through June 2004. A 4-phase preoperative evaluation was performed on all patients, whose ages ranged from 13 to 54 years (mean = 29.7 +/- 8.1 years). Of the 132 patients, 76 patients (57.5%) underwent left lateral segmentectomy, 33 patients (25%) underwent left lobectomy, and 23 patients (16%) underwent right hepatectomy. In 2 other patients (1.5%), a monosegment (segment II) was obtained after left lateral segmentectomy.


RESULTS
Twenty patients (15%) experienced a complication, the most common being incisional hernia, pneumonia, and biliary fistulae. On the seventh postoperative day, 1 patient developed a fatal cerebral hemorrhage while recovering from mild liver dysfunction.


CONCLUSIONS
Although living donor liver transplantation is generally safe, serious and fatal complications may occur.
Wiederkehr
J C
JC
Santa Casa de Curitiba and Hospital Pequeno Principe, Catholic University of Parana PUCPR, Parana, Brazil. wiederke@uol.com.br
Pereira
J C
JC
Ekermann
M
M
Porto
F
F
Kondo
W
W
Nagima
I
I
Amaral
W
W
Camargo
C A
CA
Moreira
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000368:Aged; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000379:methods