Healio
Healio

EASL Congress
April 25, 2015
1 min read
Save

Liver allografts donated after cardiac death show favorable outcomes for LT recipients

VIENNA — Liver transplant recipients who received donation after cardiac death, or DCD, allografts had favorable outcomes, including no increase in biliary or vascular complications, according to study results presented at the 2015 International Liver Congress.

Wayel Jassem, MD, PhD, consultant liver transplant surgeon, King’s College Hospital, London, and colleagues compared outcomes of 293 controlled DCD liver transplants with outcomes of 293 matched, controlled donation after brain death (DBD) transplants.

Wayel Jassem

Patients that received DCD grafts had higher levels of post-transplant aspartate aminotransferase serum compared with patients who received DBD grafts (P < .0005). Patients who received a DCD graft also had longer intensive care unit stays (P < 0.05).

Primary non-function was also higher among patients with DCD allografts compared with the DBD patients, however it was not statistically significant (P = 0.07). There were no significant differences in the incidence of renal replacement therapy usage, rejection episodes, vascular or biliary complications, including primary ischaemic cholangiopathy, observed between the two cohorts.

Overall, patient and graft survival was higher in the DBD group (P = .025, P = .002). However, when excluding transplants for HCC, no significant difference in overall patient and graft survival were observed at 1 year or 5 years between the two groups (DBD: 94.4% and 92.3%, respectively, vs. DCD: 94.2% vs. 90.6%, respectively), according to the presentation.

More patients with a DCD graft had hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but there was no difference in HCC recurrence.

“The data shows a favorable outcome of LT using DCD allografts with no increase in biliary or vascular complications,” Jassem said in his presentation. “Minimizing [cold ischaemic times] and optimizing donor/recipient matching is crucial. More work is required to explore the impact of DCD status on HCC recurrence.” – by Melinda Stevens

For More Information:

Cortes M. Abstract O105. Presented at: International Liver Congress; April 22-26, 2015; Vienna.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

Editor's note: This article was updated with clarifications from the lead author.