Early outcomes of implanting larger-sized grafts in deceased donor liver transplantation.

Shen, Zhenhua; Wang, Zhize; Jiang, Yuancong; Wu, Tianchun; Zheng, Shusen

BACKGROUND The outcomes of large-sized graft mismatch in deceased donor liver transplantation (LT) have been rarely studied. The aim of this study was to determine whether a large-sized graft for recipient influenced the post-transplant outcomes. METHODS A total of 273 patients undergoing LT were enrolled and divided into a large and a normal-sized graft group by graft weight to recipient weight (GWRW) >2.5% (n = 76) or GWRW ≤2.5% (n = 197). Post-operative complications and outcomes were retrospectively analysed. RESULTS The two groups were comparable in demographic characteristics. The rate of complications was significantly higher in the large-sized graft group including early allograft dysfunction (36.8% versus 17.8%, P = 0.001), hepatic necrosis (26.3% versus 13.7%, P = 0.01) and massive hydrothorax (25% versus 14.7%, P = 0.04). The large-sized graft group suffered higher early mortality compared with the normal-sized graft group (30 days: 14.5% versus 5.6%, P = 0.02, 90 days: 21.1% versus 9.6%, P = 0.01). The primary causes of early death were multiple organ failure (10.5% versus 2%, P = 0.002) and sepsis (2.6% versus 1.5%, P = 0.54). Four parameters including donor alanine transaminase, GWRW, estimated blood loss and model for end-stage liver disease score were significant on multivariate analysis, and indicated significant risk factors for the early mortality of recipients. CONCLUSION In deceased donor LT, GWRW >2.5% is associated with increased liver injury, risk of early mortality and other adverse outcomes. Thus, donor livers should be allocated to recipients with GWRW ≤2.5%.