title: Liver transplantation in an African setting.
abstract: Liver disease in children in the developing world is a frequent occurrence, which is generally inadequately managed because of lack of resources. However, increasingly, there has been a demand for liver transplantation, where primary medical or surgical therapies have failed. The expertise and infrastructure required for a successful outcome are no different from those in more developed countries; if anything, the challenges are greater. Lack of deceased donors because of cultural and religious factors has driven the use of living donors. Short-term survival has generally been good, but long-term outcomes have rarely been reported. In this article, we review the experience of 2 centers at opposite ends of the continent and share our experience of slightly different settings and show that success can be achieved even in resource-reduced environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery, School of Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town and Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. alastair.millar@uct.ac.za
authors.forename: Alastair J W
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Millar
authors.forename: Alaa F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Hamza
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D002648:Child; D019049:Developed Countries; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000379:methods; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000276:immunology / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality; D019520:Living Donors; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011788:Quality of Life; D012086:Reoperation; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome