The Largest Single Center Report on Pediatric Liver Transplantation: Experiences and Lessons Learned

We described our experiences on pediatric liver transplantation (LT) from the largest LT center in the world termed the Shiraz Transplant Center.

After the first successful pediatric LT in 1967, pediatric LT has become the routine treatment for children with liver failure worldwide.

Data on a total of 1141 pediatric cases of LT were collected. Specifics on baseline and anthropometric characteristics, clinicopathology, prognosis of recipients of LT, and donor characteristics are reported.

Mean age of patients was 7.83 ± 5.55 years old. Most common etiologies for LT were biliary atresia (15.9%), progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (13.4%), and Wilson's disease (13.3%), respectively.Whole organs, living donor grafts, and split grafts were used in 47.9%, 41%, and 11.1% of patients, respectively. In-hospital complications were seen among 34.7% of patients and the most common complications were infections (26.8%), bleeding (23.4%), and vascular complications (18%).Median (interquartile range) model for end stage liver disease score was 20 (15, 25). Main causes of death among patients were sepsis (35.2%), followed by post-transplantation lymphoproliferative diseases (10.5%), and primary nonfunction of liver (9%).Patient survival showed improvement over the years (1-year survival of 73.1%, 83.4%, and 84.4%, 2-year survival of 65.2%, 77.1%, and 78.7%, 5-year survival of 58.2%, 72%, and 77.8% for 1997-2007, 2007-2013, and 2013-2019, respectively; P < 0.001).

This is the largest single-center report on pediatric LT in literature which provides valuable experiences in pediatric LT.