Live donor profile in paediatric liver transplantation: a three-year experience

Liver transplantation for paediatric patients was started in Sri Lanka in 2020, focusing on living donors. This retrospective study examines the donors evaluated at the Colombo North Centre for Liver Disease for the first twelve paediatric liver transplants.

Related donors and undirected donors were encouraged. Donor assessment was done in stages: initial screening, haematological investigations, imaging, and ethical approval. Twelve donors were selected for ethical approval and donor surgery.

A total of 36 donors underwent workup. 24 were rejected, and 12 were accepted. The reasons to reject were abnormal LFTs and fatty liver disease 16 (67%), the presence of comorbidities 5 (21%), and unfavourable anatomy 2 (8%). In one donor (4%), surgery was abandoned due to rising intraoperative lactate levels. Of the rejected group, 17 were males and 7 were females, and the median age was 33 (Range 43-20) years. 12 donors (7 related and 5 non-related) had a median age of 33 (range 25-41) and a median BMI of 19.25 (16.3-22.5) and a male-to-female ratio of 7:5. Left lateral sector donation was done in 6 while left lobe donation in 4 and right lobe donation in 2 were done respectively.

Fatty liver disease was the predominant cause of donor disqualification. Living donor paediatric liver transplantation is feasible in the Sri Lankan setting. It would be a safer option due to the detailed donor workup given the high prevalence of fatty liver disease in the population.