[Living donor liver transplantation in Kyushu University]

We performed living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) for 40 patients at Kyushu University Hospital, Fukuoka Japan during the period from October 1996 to April 2000. The patients consisted of 32 adults and 8 children with a mean age of 35.8 years (range: 1 year and 10 months to 65 years old). The underlying liver diseases of the 40 patients included the fulminant hepatic failure (n = 14), biliary atresia (n = 7), liver cirrhosis (HCV) (n = 6), primary biliary cirrhosis (n = 5), primary sclerosing cholangitis (n = 2), familiar amyloidotic polyneuropathy (n = 2), Alagille syndrome (n = 1), glycogen storage disease (n = 1), huge hepatic hemangiomas (n = 1), and Wilson's disease (n = 1). All liver grafts were obtained from each patient's family members except for one domino transplant donor's case, comprised of 13 parents, 13 sons and daughters, 11 brothers and sisters, and 3 wives. The donors are presently all doing well. The patient survival rate is presently 92.5%.