Living donor liver transplantation in Europe.
Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) sparked significant interest in Europe when the first reports of its success from USA and Asia were made public. Many transplant programs initiated LDLT and some of them especially in Germany and Belgium became a point of reference for many patients and important contributors to the advancement of the field. After the initial enthusiasm, most of the European programs stopped performing LDLT and today the overall European activity is concentrated in a few centers and the number of living donor liver transplants is only a single digit fraction of the overall number of liver transplants performed. In this paper we analyse the present European activities and highlight the European contribution to the advancement of the field of LDLT.
1 Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany ; 2 Department of General and Liver Transplant Surgery, Saint Eloi Hospital, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France ; 3 Department of Paediatric Surgery and Transplantation Centre, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy ; 4 Department of General, Hepato-Biliary and Transplantation Surgery, Gent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium ; 5 Department of HPB & Liver Transplant Surgery, CHU Tours University Hospital & Medical School Chambray-lès-Tours, France ; 6 Liver Surgery and Transplant Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK ; 7 Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Silvio
S
Nadalin
1 Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany ; 2 Department of General and Liver Transplant Surgery, Saint Eloi Hospital, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France ; 3 Department of Paediatric Surgery and Transplantation Centre, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy ; 4 Department of General, Hepato-Biliary and Transplantation Surgery, Gent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium ; 5 Department of HPB & Liver Transplant Surgery, CHU Tours University Hospital & Medical School Chambray-lès-Tours, France ; 6 Liver Surgery and Transplant Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK ; 7 Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Ivan
I
Capobianco
1 Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany ; 2 Department of General and Liver Transplant Surgery, Saint Eloi Hospital, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France ; 3 Department of Paediatric Surgery and Transplantation Centre, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy ; 4 Department of General, Hepato-Biliary and Transplantation Surgery, Gent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium ; 5 Department of HPB & Liver Transplant Surgery, CHU Tours University Hospital & Medical School Chambray-lès-Tours, France ; 6 Liver Surgery and Transplant Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK ; 7 Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Fabrizio
F
Panaro
1 Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany ; 2 Department of General and Liver Transplant Surgery, Saint Eloi Hospital, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France ; 3 Department of Paediatric Surgery and Transplantation Centre, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy ; 4 Department of General, Hepato-Biliary and Transplantation Surgery, Gent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium ; 5 Department of HPB & Liver Transplant Surgery, CHU Tours University Hospital & Medical School Chambray-lès-Tours, France ; 6 Liver Surgery and Transplant Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK ; 7 Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Fabrizio
F
Di Francesco
1 Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany ; 2 Department of General and Liver Transplant Surgery, Saint Eloi Hospital, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France ; 3 Department of Paediatric Surgery and Transplantation Centre, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy ; 4 Department of General, Hepato-Biliary and Transplantation Surgery, Gent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium ; 5 Department of HPB & Liver Transplant Surgery, CHU Tours University Hospital & Medical School Chambray-lès-Tours, France ; 6 Liver Surgery and Transplant Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK ; 7 Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Roberto
R
Troisi
1 Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany ; 2 Department of General and Liver Transplant Surgery, Saint Eloi Hospital, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France ; 3 Department of Paediatric Surgery and Transplantation Centre, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy ; 4 Department of General, Hepato-Biliary and Transplantation Surgery, Gent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium ; 5 Department of HPB & Liver Transplant Surgery, CHU Tours University Hospital & Medical School Chambray-lès-Tours, France ; 6 Liver Surgery and Transplant Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK ; 7 Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Mauricio
M
Sainz-Barriga
1 Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany ; 2 Department of General and Liver Transplant Surgery, Saint Eloi Hospital, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France ; 3 Department of Paediatric Surgery and Transplantation Centre, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy ; 4 Department of General, Hepato-Biliary and Transplantation Surgery, Gent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium ; 5 Department of HPB & Liver Transplant Surgery, CHU Tours University Hospital & Medical School Chambray-lès-Tours, France ; 6 Liver Surgery and Transplant Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK ; 7 Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Paolo
P
Muiesan
1 Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany ; 2 Department of General and Liver Transplant Surgery, Saint Eloi Hospital, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France ; 3 Department of Paediatric Surgery and Transplantation Centre, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy ; 4 Department of General, Hepato-Biliary and Transplantation Surgery, Gent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium ; 5 Department of HPB & Liver Transplant Surgery, CHU Tours University Hospital & Medical School Chambray-lès-Tours, France ; 6 Liver Surgery and Transplant Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK ; 7 Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Alfred
A
Königsrainer
1 Department of General and Transplant Surgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Germany ; 2 Department of General and Liver Transplant Surgery, Saint Eloi Hospital, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France ; 3 Department of Paediatric Surgery and Transplantation Centre, Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, Italy ; 4 Department of General, Hepato-Biliary and Transplantation Surgery, Gent University Hospital, Gent, Belgium ; 5 Department of HPB & Liver Transplant Surgery, CHU Tours University Hospital & Medical School Chambray-lès-Tours, France ; 6 Liver Surgery and Transplant Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK ; 7 Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA.
Giuliano
G
Testa
Europe; Liver transplantation (LT); living donor; living donor liver transplantation (LDLT)