Liver Biopsy Results in Potential Donor Evaluation in Living Related Liver Transplant

Abstract

Objectives: The number of living-donor liver transplants has been increasing due to the growing discrepancy between the number of patients on wait lists for liver transplant and the availability of deceased donations. Evaluations of potential liver donors should ensure the safety of the surgical procedure for both the donor and recipient. Liver biopsy is the criterion standard for selecting optimal donors. In this study, we evaluated the importance of preoperative liver biopsy in selecting donor candidates.

Materials and Methods: We evaluated the data of 612 living-related liver donor candidates who received liver biopsies between January 2001 and June 2017 at our center.

Results: In the 612 liver donor candidates (328 male, 284 female; age range, 18-69 years), 416 liver biopsies (68%) were reported as normal and 196 liver biopsies (32%) had pathologic findings. Of 196 donors with pathologic findings, 86 (44%) had fatty changes and 24 (12%) had portal inflammation.

Conclusions: The high rate of pathologic findings in liver biopsy of healthy-appearing donor candidates indicated the importance of liver biopsy in the preoperative evaluation of donors.