Adult liver transplantation using liver grafts from donors over 70 years of age.

UNLABELLED

The increasing organ shortage calls for widening the selection criteria for liver transplant donors. However, concern exists about the use of grafts from donors older than 70 years. We report our clinical experience with graft-age related outcomes, presenting data on 41 patients transplanted with grafts from older donors.

PATIENTS/METHODS: Between January 1995 and October 2003, 41 liver grafts were transplanted from donors older than 70 years. We analyzed patient and graft survival, incidence of retransplantation, initial nonfunction (INF), rejection, intra- and postoperative requirement for red blood cells. We also recorded cholestasis, protein synthesis and urinary retention.

RESULTS

The mean donor age was 73.4 +/- 0.37 years. After one year, the patient survival was 91% and the graft survival 86%. The retransplantation rate was 9.75%; only one graft was lost due to INF. We observed an incidence of 11 rejection episodes. Of these, five patients needed OKT3 therapy for steroid-resistent rejection. The intra- and postoperative requirement for red blood cells was 4.0 +/- 0.65 and 1.4 +/- 0.25 units. Cholestasis, protein synthesis, and urinary retention parameters were within normal limits.

CONCLUSIONS

Among donors of mean age 73.4 years, patient and graft survivals were excellent. One organ was lost due to INF. The intra- and postoperative need for red blood cells was within acceptable ranges. Liver function tests, cholestasis, and retention parameters were normal after 1 year follow up. Thus, we recommend to accept liver grafts from donors older than 70 years to expand the organ pool.