Living Liver Donors With Harris Platelet Syndrome Related Thrombocytopenia: A Case Series

Donor safety is of paramount importance for living-donor liver transplantation. Donor thrombocytopenia is viewed with caution and considered a relative contraindication for donations. Harris platelet syndrome (HPLS), a recently described cause of asymptomatic thrombocytopenia, is a subtype of inherited giant platelet disorders noted more commonly in the north-eastern part of India. Herein, we present our experience with living liver donors using HPLS. We retrospectively collected data from all patients with HPLS who underwent donor hepatectomies. Five patients were diagnosed as having HPLS. The mean intraoperative blood loss was 350 ml. On post-operative day 1, all patients had lactate levels of <2 mmol/L. None of the patients had any features of post hepatectomy liver failure, and the international normalized ratio was normalized by post-operative day 5. There needs to be awareness of the benign nature of HPLS. This would avoid unnecessarily ruling out suitable candidates who would otherwise yield an appropriate graft.