Hanyang Med Rev.  2006 Aug;26(3):4-8.

Current Issues in Living Donor Liver Transplantation

• Joh JW

Abstract

Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) was first successfully done in pediatric patients and now its application has been expanded to adult patients. Especially in Asian countries, LDLT has become the mainstay of liver transplantation because of a severe shortage of cadaveric organs. The overall survival rate of recipients is almost same as in cadaveric whole organ transplantation. Advantages of LDLT include reduction in waiting time, flexible operation time, good quality of donor organ, and minimal cold ischemic time, etc. But it needs a thorough understanding of anatomy and it is technically more demanding. Recipient morbidity is increased, especially in biliary complications, and donor morbidity and mortality issues should be considered. Many surgical problems have been solved in the field of LDLT. Still the issues of small for size syndrome and biliary complication should be solved in the near future.

Keyword

Liver transplantation; Living donor

MeSH Terms

Adult
Asian Continental Ancestry Group
Cadaver
Cold Ischemia
Humans
Liver Transplantation*
Liver*
Living Donors*
Mortality
Organ Transplantation
Survival Rate
Tissue Donors
Transplants