[Liver transplantation of living donors: first experiences in Spain]

The shortage of pediatric donors with a significant mortality in the waiting list has moved to the development of new techniques of liver transplantation that allow the reduction in size of bigger grafts to make them fit in the abdominal cavity of the small children. The last advancement on these techniques has come with the use as a graft of a segment of liver removed from a living donor genetically related with the recipient. The preliminary studies of the candidates for living donors were started after getting an informed consent. The evaluation consisted basically in: liver function test, virological screening, chest x-ray, EKG, volumetric CT scan to ascertain liver size, doppler ultrasound, selective hepatic arteriography, anesthetic consult and psychiatric study. Two candidates were accepted as living donors. In both the segments II and III of the liver were removed. The surgical procedures of donation lasted around six hours and the two donors were discharges at the seventh day without complication. The living related liver transplant represents an option that contribute to reduce the pediatric waiting list. The advantages of this technique are: the procedure may be performed in an elective way at the time that is appropriate for the patient and providing a graft of uniformly high quality.