Liver transplantation for biliary atresia in Taiwan: a national study

A national database for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) among biliary atresia (BA) cases in Taiwan has not been reported. Using the National Health Insurance (NHI) database to investigate the prognostic features of patients with BA receiving OLT, we studied the prognosis of this procedure for BA. The NHI in Taiwan covers most of the population (>99%). From 1996-2004, 106 BA patients underwent transplantation. A linear time trend analysis was performed to estimate the annual slope for BA patients to receive OLT. The rate of increase per year of 2.6 cases was significant (R(2) = .649; P = .029). The 5-year overall survival after OLT was 97.1% +/- 1.6%, which was not different between those who had or had not previously undergone portoenterostomy (94.9% vs 97.8%; P = .160). It was not different among patients undergoing transplantation during the various seasons (P = .505). Our data confirmed the effectiveness of OLT for the treatment of BA in children with or without KP in Taiwan.