With the National Liver Transplant Program in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia established since 1994 and since that time over 200 transplants have taken place. Though there is a severe shortage of organ for the transplant in the kingdom. Most of the patient seek liver transplant outside the country.
The aim of this study was to look out for the patient who was referred to our center after they received liver transplant on China.
Data from the patient chart was reviewed. We looked at the outcome on those patients. Between February 2003 until February 2004, five patients were referred to our program to be followed after liver transplant that has been done in China. Five patients received cadaveric non-heart beating liver from executed patients.
All the patients were adults, four males and one female patient. Transplant deaths happened in two patients. One case after portal vein thrombosis, the second patient after recurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma. Three other patients developed severe biliary complications with multiple strictures. The three patients required referral for re-transplantation.
The use of non-heart beating donors from executed patients had a poor results compared to those that are obtained from controlled fashion non-heart beating or cadaveric transplant. There is a high incidence of biliary complications as well as high incidence of morbidity and mortality. We would think that collecting the data from all these patients that have been done internationally by this method would be more informative. Also, this reflects the present dilemma of international patients who seek organ transplant.