An increase in deceased donor incidence alleviated the need for urgent adult living donor liver transplantation in a Korean high-volume center.
OBJECTIVE
This study analyzed the effects of a recent increase in deceased donors on the pattern of adult liver transplantation (OLT) in a high-volume center in Korea.


METHODS
OLT patterns relative to pretransplant recipient status were analyzed for 112 deceased donor LTs (DDLT) and 743 living donor OLT (LDLT) in a single center as compared to nationwide Korean data over 3 years from 2006 to 2008.


RESULTS
During the study period, the annual proportion of institutional urgent OLT was relatively invariable (20% to 25.2%), but the annual proportion of DDLTs to all OLT increased from 8.9% to 19.9%, as did the annual rate of DDLTs among those undergoing urgent OLT, from 18.6% to 65.8%, with a reciprocal decrease in the proportion of urgent LDLTs. Korean nationwide data also showed a noticeable increase in deceased liver graft allocation for urgency from 39.8% to 62.2% over the same time period.


CONCLUSIONS
An increase in deceased donors up to 5 per million enabled an increase in urgent adult DDLTs, alleviating the need for urgent adult LDLTs in Korea.
Hwang
S
S
Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
Lee
S G
SG
Ahn
C S
CS
Kim
K H
KH
Moon
D B
DB
Ha
T Y
TY
Song
G W
GW
Jung
D H
DH
Kim
K W
KW
Choi
N K
NK
Park
G C
GC
Yu
Y D
YD
Choi
Y I
YI
Park
P J
PJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002102:Cadaver; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000601:surgery; D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000601:surgery; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014019:Tissue Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014850:Waiting Lists