
The objective of this Information Paper is to evaluate the published evidence on the safety, efficacy, and current status of living donor liver transplantation for the treatment of end stage liver disease in children. [...] BACKGROUND The liver is one of the first organs to develop in a human embryo and is the largest internal organ of the body, weighing between 1.5 and 1.8 kilograms in an adult 1, 2. It is a complex chemical factory that is essential to life. [...] Therefore, it is suggested that the Kasai operation may delay the onset of ESLD long enough to allow the child to grow, which not only helps the child survive the rigours of major surgery and reduces the technical difficulty of the transplant procedure, but also increases the chance of finding a size matched cadaveric donor graft 8, 10, 11. [...] Over time, the liver graft reduces its mass via apoptosis, according to the needs of the recipient, and the abdominal wall stretches to accommodate the graft 39. [...] Potential advantages and complications The purported advantages of LDLT include a shorter waiting time for a liver transplant; the ability to schedule the operation electively and optimise the recipient's condition prior to transplantation; the option of performing a pre-transplantation cross match between donor and recipient; reduced cold ischemic time for the donor liver (from over 8 hours for a.
Page Count:
46
Publication Date:
2004-01-01
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