Objective: To investigate the relationship between the pretransplant condition of recipient, graft size and the outcomes of recipient after adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation.
Methods: From January 2002 to January 2007, 70 patients underwent adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (ALDLT) in West China Hospital. There were 67 patients received right lobe graft without middle hepatic vein (MHV) and 3 patients received dual grafts. The patients were followed up until January 2008. The recipients were stratified according to pretransplant MELD-AS score and graft size. The outcomes of these patients were analyzed retrospectively.
Results: Recipient 1-year survival rate and complication rate were 87.1% and 34.3%, respectively. For the patients with MELD-AS score from 1 to 13, the survival rates of large graft and small graft were 100.0% and 83.3%, the complication rates were 14.3% and 16.7%; for those MELD-AS score between 14-24, the survival rates of large graft and small graft were 94.4% and 75.0%, the complication rates were 38.9% and 50.0%; for those MELD-AS scores were 25 or higher, the survival rates of large graft and small graft were 77.8% and 25.0%, the complication rates were 52.9% and 50.0%. Statistical significant difference of survival between large graft group and small graft group was found among the recipients with MELD-AS score > or =25.
Conclusion: The recipient survival is influenced simutanously by pretransplant MELD-AS score of recipient and graft size influence. Further more, large graft improve the survival in recipients whose MELD-AS score were 25 or higher.