WEDNESDAY, Dec. 26 (HealthDay News) -- In adults with chronic liver disease, living donor liver transplantation results in a significant survival benefit compared to either waiting for or receiving a deceased donor liver transplantation, according to study findings published in the December issue of Gastroenterology.
Carl L. Berg, M.D., of the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, Va., and colleagues studied 807 potential living donor recipients, including 389 who underwent living donor liver transplantation and 249 who underwent deceased donor liver transplantation.
During a median 4.4-year follow-up, 99 patients died without transplantation and 70 were still awaiting transplantation. The researchers found that living donor liver transplantation patients had a significantly lower adjusted mortality hazard ratio (0.56) compared to patients who did not receive living donor liver transplantation. They also found that the adjusted mortality hazard ratio was even lower (0.35) at medical centers that had performed more than 20 living donor liver transplants.
"These findings should be useful for liver transplant candidates and potential donors as they attempt to balance the risks and benefits of the various routes to liver transplantation, as well as for transplant centers as they evaluate patients for living donor liver transplantation or consider establishment of new living donor liver transplantation programs," the authors conclude.
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