Medical community preferences concerning adult living related donor liver transplantation

To assess acceptance and acceptable estimated mortality levels for right lobe adult-to-adult living related liver transplantation for the medical and allied professions.

A paper questionnaire was sent to the physicians practicing with the French Graft Agency (Etablissement Français des Greffes) and to all nurses and ancillary staff of the Paul Brousse Hospital Hepatobiliary Center. Responses were received from surgeons: 38/73; internists specialized in hepatology: 44/120; nurses: 98/100; health care assistants: 45/86; others: 17/20.

Acceptance of living donor transplantation is above average for all professional categories and indications may be extended including patients with cancer. Acceptable mortality for the donor was 4%, except among internists (0.7%). Currently, the real risk of mortality for the donor (1%) is lower. Acceptable mortality for the recipient was between 15 and 20%.

Acceptance of adult living donor liver transplantation among health care professionals is clearly above average. Thus the psychological involvement of transplantation teams, which is very strong in such situations, should not hamper the development of this type of transplantation.