Pediatric Liver Transplantation: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

Liver transplantation (LT) is a life-saving treatment for pediatric patients suffering end-stage liver disease, with the potential to yield positive long-term outcomes. Recently, remarkable progress has been achieved in mainland China. The purpose of this research is to describe the status in our center.

116 recipients from July 2019 to July 2023 were included in our study. The characteristics of recipients and donors, preoperative assessments, intraoperative details and posttransplant complications were described. The Kaplan-Meier method was applied to analyze the overall survival curves and was examined with the log-rank test.

A total of 116 pediatric LTs were performed, including 57 (49.1%) living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), 57 (49.1%) split liver transplantation (SLT) and 2 (1.8%) whole liver transplantation (WLT). The 1- and 3-year overall survival rates were 93.1% and 92.2%. The survival of DDLT was comparable to that of LDLT in our center (89.4% vs. 96.3% for 3-year survival rate). After LT, 7 (6.03%) vascular complications and 3 (2.59%) biliary complications were observed. The primary causes of mortality were drug-resistant bacteria infection and post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD).

Pediatric LT has achieved tremendous progress in mainland China. The survival rate of our center was comparable to the published results worldwide. The survival rate of SLT from DBD donors was comparable to LDLT. Further research on the postoperative management and attempts of ISW will be required to improve survival.