[Medical-surgical evaluation of living liver donors]

The living related liver segment transplantation is an established procedure in liver transplantation for children and adults. The evaluation of a possible donor should consider the following subjects: (1) Assessment of organ quality by imaging of size and anatomy of the liver and exclusion of the unknown liver diseases by labority analysis and liver biopsy. (2) Risk assessment of the potential organ donor by exclusion of preexisting diseases increasing the risk of surgery, including thromboembolic risk factors. (3) Psychological evaluation. Nevertheless the evaluation procedure should by practicable, convenient for the organ donor and cost effective. This can be realized by a stepwise program.