Late reuse of liver allografts from brain-dead graft recipients: the Munich experience and a review of the literature.
The increasing donor organ shortage requires the consideration of any possible organ donor in order to meet the current demand. However, the growing number of long-term survivors of liver transplantation may create a situation in which former organ recipients may experience brain death with a functioning graft and therefore become organ donors themselves. Previous reports concerning this rare situation predominantly refer to the reuse of donor organs within the first 8 days after primary liver transplantation. So far, only a single case of late reuse of a donor liver has been published, with 2 additional cases mentioned in a summary of the United Network for Organ Sharing database. Here we report the case of a 43-year-old female donor who had received a liver graft for complications of Budd-Chiari syndrome 5 years before becoming an organ donor herself after cerebral infarction with consecutive brain death.
Rentsch
Markus
M
Department of Surgery, University Hospital of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany. mrentsch@med.uni-muenchen.de
Meyer
Jens
J
Andrassy
Joachim
J
Fischer-Fröhlich
Carl-Ludwig
CL
Rust
Christan
C
Mueller
Susanna
S
Angele
Martin
M
Löhe
Florian
F
Jauch
Karl-Walter
KW
Graeb
Christian
C
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001926:Brain Death; D006502:Budd-Chiari Syndrome / Q000601:surgery; D002544:Cerebral Infarction; D003560:Cysts / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008875:Middle Aged; D012086:Reoperation; D013997:Time Factors; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents