Partial liver transplantation-living donor liver transplantation and split liver transplantation

In the last two decades, liver transplantation (LTx) has become the treatment of choice for several liver diseases including hepatocellular carcinoma in selected cases. Improvements in surgical and anesthesiological procedures have increased patient survival after LTx, resulting in excellent 1-year survival rates. The rate-limiting factor to further increase the number of LTx is the extreme shortage of suitable organs with the consequence that pediatric and adult patients are dying on the waiting list. At present, mortality reported for pediatric and adult patients on the waiting list is 10 to 20%. Living-donor liver transplantation and split liver transplantation are measurements to reduce the severe lack of cadaveric grafts by expanding the donor pool. Major centers around the world now routinely perform partial LTx in infants and adults with survival success equivalent to that after full-size liver transplantation.