Complications in the right lobe adult living donor: single-center experience in China.
OBJECTIVE
Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been accepted as an established treatment modality for end-stage liver diseases to alleviate the shortage of cadaveric organs. Reported complication rates for right lobe adult living donors vary, but are estimated to be approximately 35% with a surgical mortality rate of approximately 0.3%. Our objective was to evaluate the complications in right lobe adult living donors in a single center.


METHODS
This retrospective review includes 62 adult living donors who underwent right hemi-hepatectomy between January 2002 and December 2006. Eighteen donors were men and 44 were women (range, 18-65 years; median age, 36 years). The mean follow-up time for the donors was 16 months (range, 3 months-4 years).


RESULTS
All donors were alive and well at the end of the study period. Complications included pleural effusion (n=6; 9.68%), bile leaks (n=3; 4.84%), wound infection (n=2; 3.23%), pneumonia (n=2; 3.23%), chyle leak (n=1; 1.61%), intra-abdominal bleeding (n=1; 1.61%), subphrenic effusion (n=1; 1.61%), portal vein thrombosis (n=1; 1.61%), and chylothorax (n=1; 1.61%). There was no donor mortality, and the overall complication rate was 29%.


CONCLUSIONS
The overall complication rate in the right lobe adult living donor was 29% in our center; there was no donor mortality. These complications could be avoided or overcome through intensive postoperative surveillance.
Li
F
F
Center of Liver Transplantation, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Sichuan, Province, People's Republic of China.
Yan
L
L
Li
B
B
Zeng
Y
Y
Wen
T
T
Xu
M
M
Wang
W
W
Chen
Z
Z
Yang
J
J
Liu
B
B
Jiang
X
X
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D017093:Liver Failure / Q000601:surgery; D019520:Living Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic; D009679:Nuclear Family; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000453:epidemiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000009:adverse effects*