Living donor hepatectomy in a pregnant woman.
Liver transplantation with a live donor is an effective way to expand the donor pool. Restrictive selection of living donors may assure donor safety but limit the utility of this resource. A 12-month-old recipient with biliary atresia was rapidly deteriorating with hepatic encephalopathy, massive ascites and coagulopathy. Her mother, the only possible living donor, expressed a strong desire to donate part of liver to her baby, although she was found to be pregnant. The donor hepatectomy was then undertaken at 18 weeks of gestation. A left lateral segmentectomy was performed. Her postoperative course was uneventful and she was discharged 7 days after the operation. She gave birth to a healthy term baby without any complications 5 months later. Both recipient and her younger brother are well 12 months after the operation. Despite the limited experience reported herein, pregnancy may no longer be considered an absolute contraindication for live liver donation.
Lin
Chih-Che
CC
Liver Transplant Program, Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical Center Kaohsiung, Taiwan. clchen@adm.cgmh.org.tw
Chen
Chao-Long
CL
de Villa
Vanessa H
VH
Chen
Yaw-Sen
YS
Wang
Chih-Chi
CC
Wang
Shih-Hor
SH
Cheng
Yu-Fan
YF
Huang
Tung-Liang
TL
Hsu
Te Yao
TY
D000328:Adult; D001656:Biliary Atresia / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D016896:Treatment Outcome