Living Donor Liver Graft in Adult Populations: Donor Selection and Workup

Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) helps bridge the gap between organ demand and supply by using grafts from healthy volunteers, thereby shortening waiting times and often improving graft quality for recipients. However, this therapeutic benefit to recipients must be balanced against the ethical imperative to minimize risk to healthy donors. LDLT requires comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation encompassing clinical assessment, psychosocial screening, advanced imaging with volumetric analysis, and standardized protocols to ensure donor safety and graft adequacy. This article synthesizes current best practices in donor selection, clinical evaluation, psychosocial assessment, imaging methodology, and outcome tracking for living liver donors in adult-to-adult transplantation.