Introduction: In the era of shortage of organs for donation, transplantation from suboptimal donors is an expanding alternative to minimize waitlist mortality. In that sense, the safety of using organs from bacteremic donors has been a recurrent matter of discussion. We aimed to evaluate the influence of donor positive blood culture in the recipient and graft outcomes after liver transplantation from deceased donors.
Material and methods: Blood culture results from 255 deceased liver donors were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were categorized into 2 groups based on the recipients who obtained a graft from a donor with negative or positive blood culture. Graft and recipient outcomes were compared between the 2 groups using univariate survival analysis and multivariate regression models. Transmission of bloodstream infection from donor to recipient was assessed by reviewing recipients' microbiologic status when there was evidence of infection.
Results: Positive blood culture in donors was not associated with negative outcomes after transplantation. Death within 30 days after transplantation and overall recipient and graft survival did not differ between the 2 groups. Only Child-Pugh score ≥10 and retransplantation status were considered independent predictors of recipient death and graft failure. We identified 1 potential case of bacteremia transmission from donor to recipient.
Conclusion: Donor positive blood culture was not associated with negative outcomes after liver transplantation. Transmission of infection from donor to recipient is possible, but rare. The results support the usage of bacteremic donors as a safe alternative to the scarcity of optimal donors.
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