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Volume: 4 Issue: 2 December 2006 - Supplement - 1

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PEDIATRIC LIVER TRANSPLANTATION FOR ACUTE LIVER FAILURE

The only proven therapy for patients unlikely to recover from acute liver failure(ALF) is liver transplantation. Therefore, recognition of the condition and urgent referral to a transplant center are critical. In this study, we evaluated 12 pediatric ALF patients who had undergone liver transplantation (LT) at a single center during a 4-year period. Seven patients were female, and 5 were male, and the mean age of the patients was 9.1 ± 4.2 years. Three patients received right liver lobe grafts; 1 received a whole liver graft; and the remainder received left or left lateral lobe grafts. All of the patients recovered from hepatic coma the day after transplantation. Overall, 2 patients died on the 57th and 71st postoperative days. One patient required retransplantation because of chronic rejection 7 months after having undergone the initial transplantation; that patient died due to sepsis 10 days after the retransplantation. As of this writing, the remaining 9 patients are healthy at between 2 and 46months’ follow-up. Today, 75% percent of our patients are alive. Living-donor LT is the only option for ALF patients in countries where organ donation rates are low. In such scenarios, donor preparation in a limited time is crucial, and we have been able to decrease this time interval to approximately 4 hours (including liver biopsy of the donor). In conclusion, at our center, cadaver donation rates are limited; however, in patients with ALF, an LDLT program has been developed that achieves success rates similar to those seen with cadaveric liver transplantation.



Volume : 4
Issue : 2
Pages : 174


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