A recent study by doctors at Shinshu University, School of Medicine, in Japan determined that left side grafting has lower risk to donors compared to grafts taken from the right lobe, and it appears to be the procedure of choice for adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT).
Researchers also found that graft size was not the only cause behind "small-for-size graft syndrome," a severe complication resulting in organ malfunction and transplant failure. These findings appear in the November issue of Liver Transplantation, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.
In the current study, Toshihiko Ikegami, M.D. and colleagues report on the outcomes of the 120 adult LDLTs they performed through October 2007. Patients were divided into two groups: group S consisted of 33 patients who received liver grafts < 35% of their standard liver volume (SLV), and group L consisted of 87 patients who received liver grafts ≥35% of their SLV.
Results show the 1- and 5-year survival rates in group S were 80.7% and 64.2% respectively; and in group L 90.8% and 84.9%, with no significant difference between groups. Between 1 and 5 years after LDLT, 7 patients died with causes of death including cerebral infarction, recurrence of liver cancer, uterine cancer, and sepsis. "These deaths occurred in patients with good liver function who had resumed their normal lives," commented Dr. Ikegami. "The causes of death were not related to insufficient graft size."