Liver transplants work better from live donor - study

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Children who receive a section of transplanted liver from a live donor have a better chance of survival than those whose organ comes from a deceased donor, researchers said on Monday.

Living donor grafts, in which a section of an adult liver is transplanted, were successful 73 percent of the time compared to a 63 percent success rate when the liver came from a deceased donor, according to 17 years of U.S. data.

The reasons for the better success rate with live donors had less to do with the original health of the graft as it did with the relative health of the recipients and the shortened time between procurement and implantation when the livers were without their own blood supply.

"Although (live donor liver transplant) poses risk to the donor, it is, as practiced, a valuable technique in pediatric transplantation to help overcome the critical organ shortage,” wrote study author Mary Austin of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Livers can regenerate, allowing transplants from live donors, especially to children who do not need a full-sized adult liver, said the report published in the Archives of Surgery. The risks to donors include infection and bleeding.

The study examined 8,771 pediatric liver transplants performed in the United States between 1987 and 2004. Of those, 81 percent were whole livers from a deceased donor, 8 percent were split livers from a deceased donor, and 11 percent were split livers from living donors.

The overall failure rate was 35 percent, with many of those patients receiving another donated liver, while 1,329 children died.

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