Deceased-donor liver transplantation: 10 years' experience at Change Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung Medical Center.
BACKGROUND
The purpose of this study was to summarize the outcomes we achieved using deceased-donor liver transplantation (DDLT) in the past 10 years at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital-Kaohsiung Medical Center (CGMH-KMC).


METHODS
Between March 1993 and March 2003, 53 DDLTs were performed at CGMH-KMC. Patients were divided into 2 stages: stage 1 (n = 22) from March 1993 to February 1998, and stage 2 (n = 31) from March 1998 to March 2003. Indications for transplantation, patient demographics, surgical procedures, and long-term outcomes were reviewed.


RESULTS
Indications for transplantation were biliary atresia (16), post-hepatitis B/C viral cirrhosis with or without hepatocellular carcinoma (21), Wilson's disease (8), primary biliary cirrhosis (3), and miscellaneous (5). Two retransplants were carried out for secondary biliary cirrhosis using primary live-donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Ten patients received grafts from 6 split-liver transplantations. Over-all Kaplan-Meier 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 88.46%, 83.86%, and 79.87%, respectively. A significant improvement in patient survival was observed in stage 2. The Kaplan-Meier 1- and 5-year patient survival rates in stage 2 were 96.67% and 92.95%, respectively. Fifteen patients developed vascular complications. Nine patients died in this series for an overall mortality rate of 17%.


CONCLUSIONS
Deceased-donor liver transplantation is well established as the treatment of choice for acute and chronic liver failure in Taiwan. Satisfactory outcomes have been attained in those transplanted to date.
Yong
Chee-Chien
CC
Liver Transplant Program, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC.
Chen
Yaw-Sen
YS
Wang
Shih-Hor
SH
Lin
Chih-Che
CC
Liu
Po-Ping
PP
Liu
Yeuh-Wei
YW
Yang
Chin-Hsiang
CH
Hung
Kuo-Chen
KC
Chiang
Yuan-Cheng
YC
Lin
Tsan-Shiun
TS
Cheng
Yu-Fan
YF
Huang
Tung-Liang
TL
Jawan
Bruno
B
Eng
Hock-Liew
HL
Chen
Chao-Long
CL
Wang
Chih-Chi
CC
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002102:Cadaver; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology; D015996:Survival Rate