title: Results of Liver Transplantation With Donors Older than 75 Years: A Case-Control Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The inclusion of elderly donors can increase the pool of organs available for transplantation. The objective of this study was to compare clinical outcomes and survival rates of patients who received livers from donors aged ≥75 years versus younger donors.
  
  
  METHODS
  We considered all liver transplantations performed in our unit from January 2006 to January 2015. Thirty-two patients received a liver from a cadaveric donor aged ≥75 years (study group), and their outcomes were compared with those of patients who received a liver from a younger donor (control group) immediately before and after each transplantation in the study group. This is a descriptive, retrospective, case-control study carried out to analyze the characteristics of donors and recipients as well as the clinical course and survival of recipients of older and younger donors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Statistically significant differences were observed according to donors' age (53.3 ± 13.6 vs 79 ± 3.4 years; P < .001). In total, 6.2% of the recipients of a liver from a donor aged <75 years required retransplantation versus 15.6% of recipients of donors ≥75 years. Patient survivals at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively, were 89%, 78.6%, and 74.5% for recipients of donors <75 years versus 83.4%, 79.4%, and 59.6% for the study group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Livers from older donors can be safely used for transplantation with acceptable survival rates. However, survival rates are lower for recipients of livers from older donors compared with younger donors, and survival only increased with retransplantation.
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplant Unit, Regional Hospital, Málaga, Spain. Electronic address: franjleondiaz@gmail.com.
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: León Díaz
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplant Unit, Regional Hospital, Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Fernández Aguilar
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplant Unit, Regional Hospital, Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sánchez Pérez
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplant Unit, Regional Hospital, Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Montiel Casado
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplant Unit, Regional Hospital, Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Aranda Narváez
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplant Unit, Regional Hospital, Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Pérez Daga
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplant Unit, Regional Hospital, Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: M Á
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Suárez Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Liver Transplant Unit, Regional Hospital, Málaga, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santoyo Santoyo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014019:Tissue Donors; D016896:Treatment Outcome