title: What is the best immunosuppression in living donor liver transplantation?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  As we have learned, there are no golden rules of immunosuppression in solid organ transplantation, and every transplant program is using its own regimen to prevent or treat rejection. We have retrospectively analyzed the incidence and severity of acute rejection in a consecutive series of living donor liver transplants. The major objective during the whole study period was to ultimately avoid any steroids from the beginning.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty one adult patients and five children received 23 right, one left, and two left lateral lobe grafts from genetically or emotionally related living donors, including four ABO-incompatible pairs. The majority of patients had triple initial immunosuppression, based on tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil or sirolimus, and basiliximab or daclizumab. Except methylprednisolone administered before reperfusion in 13 patients, only seven had prednisolone after transplantation, and 12/26 had a completely steroid-free regimen.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall incidence of biopsy-proven acute rejection was 4/21 in adults (19%) and 4/5 in children (80%). Rejections were mild in five and moderate in three cases, respectively, and easily reversed with steroids in all patients. Different combinations of immunosuppressive drugs or ABO incompatibility did not seem to have an influence on the risk of rejection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite the small number of patients in this series, completely steroid-free triple-drug immunosuppression with tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, and basiliximab is safe and efficient to prevent acute rejection in adult recipients of living donor liver transplants. At least short-term administration of prednisolone should be considered in pediatric patients.
authors.affiliation: Center for Liver, Biliary and Pancreas Disease, Drexel University College of Medicine, 216 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102-1192, USA. br37@drexelmed.edu
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ringe
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moritz
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zeldin
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Soriano
mesh_terms: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D001787:Blood Group Incompatibility; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D000017:ABO Blood-Group System