Postsurgical complications in living-related liver donors

From September 2001 until March 2007, we performed 127 living-donor liver transplantations in our transplantation center. Of 127 donors, 74 were men and 53 women, of overall mean donor age of 35.2 +/- 9.3 years (range, 20-56 years). Ninety-six (75.6%) were first-degree relatives, 18 (14.1%) were second-degree relatives, and 13 (10.3%) were spouses. We performed 34 (26.7%) left hepatic lobectomies, 33 (25.3%) left lateral segmentectomies, and 60 (48%) right hepatic lobectomies. The mean percentages of remnant to donor total liver volume for the right, left, and left-lateral lobectomies were 41.7%, 67.8%, and 75.1%, respectively. The mean length of patient postoperative hospital stay was 7.4 +/- 3.1 days (range, 3-33 days). There was no postoperative mortality. Ten complications occurred in 7 of the 127 donors (5.5%). Most complications were treated with radiologic interventions. In conclusion, donor safety should be the primary focus in living-donor liver transplantation. More experience, improved surgical techniques, and meticulous donor evaluation will help to minimize morbidity and mortality for living liver donors.