title: Current trends in living donor liver transplantation for primary sclerosing cholangitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Use of the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score has improved the efficiency of allocating deceased donor organs for liver transplant. However, its use may reduce access to deceased donor livers for patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) due to the weighting of the MELD score variables. To overcome such barriers in the post-MELD era, clinicians might refer patients with PSC, relative to patients without PSC, for living donor transplants more frequently.
  
  
  METHODS
  To test this hypothesis, we examined patients in the United Network for Organ Sharing database from December 1, 1994, to May 31, 2009.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In multivariable models conditioned on transplant center, patients with PSC were significantly more likely to receive a living donor transplant in both the pre-MELD (odds ratio [OR]=2.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.20-3.44) and post-MELD eras (OR=4.08; 95% CI, 3.45-4.82). There was a significant interaction between PSC and post-MELD era of transplantation (OR=1.48; 95% CI, 1.11-1.97), indicating that patients with PSC were more likely to receive living donor transplants at baseline relative to patients without PSC, and that this effect was magnified following the introduction of the MELD score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings raise the possibility that allocating livers on the basis of MELD score may have yielded the unintended consequence of increasing rates for living donor transplants for patients with PSC relative to patients with other forms of end-stage liver disease. Future research is needed to determine whether the practice of selectively transplanting patients with PSC with living donor transplants is associated with differences in clinical outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. David.Goldberg@uphs.upenn.edu
authors.forename: David Seth
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: French
authors.forename: Arwin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thomasson
authors.forename: K Rajender
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Scott D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Halpern
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D015209:Cholangitis, Sclerosing / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D019992:Databases as Topic; D005260:Female; D054625:Healthcare Disparities / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000639:trends*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States; D014850:Waiting Lists