Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 28, 2025
Porcine Liver Transplantation Without Veno-Venous Bypass As an Extended Criteria Donor Model
Published on: August 17, 2022
Model for establishing a new liver transplantation center through mentorship from a university with transplantation
Rafael Soares Pinheiro1, Wellington Andraus1, Fernando Gomes Romeiro2
1Liver and Digestive Organs Transplantation Division, Gastroenterology Department, Clinical Hospital of São Paulo University - HCFMUSP, São Paulo Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Background:
Setting up new liver transplant (LT) centers is essential for countries with organ shortages. However, good outcomes require experience, because LT learning depends on a high number of surgeries. This study aims to describe how a new center was set up from a partnership between the new center and an experienced one. The step-by-step preparation process, the time needed and the results of the new center are depicted.
Material And Methods:
The mentoring process lasted 40 months, in which half of the 52 patients included on the transplant list received LT. After the mentorship, a 22-month period was also analyzed, in which 46 new patients were added to the waiting list and nine were operated on.
Results:
The 30-day survival rates during (92.3%) and after (66.7%) the partnership were similar to the other LT centers in the same region, as well as the rates of longer periods. The waiting time on the LT list, the characteristics of the donors and the ischemia times did not differ during or after the mentorship.
Conclusion:
The partnership between universities is a suitable way to set up LT centers, achieving good results for the institutions and the patients involved.
