title: Liver transplantation in the 21st century: expanding the donor options.
abstract: Over the past decade, use of ECD organs for OLT has allowed many transplant programs to afford patients access to an otherwise scarce resource and to maintain center volume. Although overall posttransplant outcomes are inferior to results with optimal, whole-liver grafts, aggressive utilization of ECD and DCD organs significantly lowers median wait-times for OLT, MELD score at OLT, and death while awaiting transplantation. It is incumbent on the transplant community to provide continued scrutiny of the many factors involved in ECD organ utilization, evaluate the degree of risk and benefit such allografts may impart on particular recipients, and thereby provide suitable “matching” to maximize favorable outcomes. Transplant caregivers need to provide patients with evidence-based care decisions, be good stewards of a scarce resource, and maintain threshold survival results for their programs. This requires balancing the urgency with which a transplant is needed and the utility of such a transplant. There is a clear necessity to pursue additional donor research to improve use of these marginal grafts and assess interventions that enhance the safety of ECD livers.
authors: Department of Medicine and Surgery, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Drexel University College of Medicine, 245 N 15th Street, 12th Floor New College Building, Suite 12324, Philadelphia, PA 19102, USA. dsass@drexelmed.edu
authors: David A
authors: DA
authors: Sass
authors: David J
authors: DJ
authors: Reich
mesh_terms: D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D006084:Graft Rejection; D006085:Graft Survival; D048550:Hepatic Insufficiency / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods; D061214:Patient Safety; D014019:Tissue Donors; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D016896:Treatment Outcome