Adult living donor versus deceased donor liver transplantation: a 6-year single center experience.

No long-term (>3 years) prospective comparison of adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (A2ALLTx) to adult deceased donor liver transplantation (ADDLTx) has been reported. This is a prospective, IRB approved, 6-year comparison of A2ALLTx to ADDLTx. Data include: age, gender, ethnicity, primary liver disease, waiting time, pretransplant CTP/MELD score, cold ischemia time (CIT), perioperative mortality, acute and chronic rejection, graft and patient survival, charges and post-transplant complications. In 6 years, 202 ADDLTx (74.5%) and 69 A2ALLTx (25.5%) were performed at VCUHS. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was the most common reason for transplantation in both groups (48.1% vs. 42%). Data regarding overall patient and graft survival, monetary charges and retransplantation rates were similar. Comparison of patient/graft survivals, retransplantation rates in patients with and without HCV were not statistically different. A2ALLTx patients had less acute rejection (11.5% vs. 23.9%) and more biliary complications (26.1% vs. 11.4%). Overall, A2ALLTx is as durable a liver replacement technique as the ADDLTx. Patients with A2ALLTx were younger, had lower MELD scores, less acute rejection and similar histological HCV recurrence. Biliary complications were more common in A2ALLTx but were not associated with increased graft loss compared to ADDLTx.