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New formula predicts liver volume for live donor liver transplantation

A new formula developed by researchers in Switzerland and Japan was accurate in calculating standard liver volume in recipients of living donor liver transplantation, according to study data published in the Journal of Hepatology.

To create this formula, liver volumes of 180 Japanese donor candidates from a tertiary care Japanese hospital between March 2006 and December 2013 and 160 Swiss patients with normal livers treated at a tertiary care Swiss hospital between January 2001 and April 2014 were analyzed by researchers. The data was randomly divided into a test subtest and validation subtest sample, stratified by race. The new formula was then performed on 50 living donor liver transplant (LDLT) recipients.

“To develop a new formula for the prediction of liver volume, we hypothesized that the liver volume would be correlated with the size of other organs,” the researchers wrote.

The new formula for calculating standard liver volume (SLV) without body weight or body surface area was: 203.3 – (3.61 × age) + (58.7 × thoracic width) – (463.7 × race [1 = Asian, 0 = Caucasian]), according to the research. The calculated roots of the mean predicted residual sum of squares for the thoracic width was 200.5, 201.6 for body surface area (BSA) and 218.6 for BMI. This indicated the new formula was well correlated with the total liver volume (TLV), making it comparable to the formula created using the BSA and better than the formula created using the BMI.

Analyses showed age, thoracic width measured using computed tomography and race to be independent predictors for TLV.

Among the LDLT recipients, the researchers analyzed the correlation between graft volume and variables related to small-for-size syndrome. They found the correlation between graft volume and the postoperative day of prothrombin time (PT) recovery to be significant (rho = – 0.462, P < .001).

The graft volume/SLV ratio calculated via the new formula better correlated with the postoperative PT compared with the graft volume/SLV ratio calculated using the other formulas or the graft volume/body weight ratio, according to the research.

“This new formula has the potential to be used worldwide in various settings in the place of existing formulas,” the researchers concluded. – by Melinda Stevens

Disclosures: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.