The first cooperative living-related donor liver transplantation performed by two separate institution teams: The Kanagawa Liver Transplantation Program.

With the cooperation of surgeons in two separate institutes, living-related donor liver transplantation was safely performed at the Kanagawa Children's Medical Center. The donor operations were carried out at Kanagawa Cancer Center by surgeons of the hepatobiliary division and the liver grafts were immediately transported to Kanagawa Children's Medical Center by ambulance, and transplanted orthotopically. Since January 1995, five children with biliary atresia have been given partial liver grafts obtained from their mothers. The liver grafts were transported within 20 min, and functioned immediately after transplantation. The development of a pediatric liver transplantation program requires a multidisciplinary approach that can be provided only in a large tertiary referral children's medical center. Preparation for the clinical program involves training of surgical and nursing team members, both in an animal laboratory and at an established liver transplantation center. Special support for the program by the institute is essential and involves medical, nursing, and administrative divisions as well as social services, operating room personnel, and intensive care unit facilities. After careful planning, and with the invaluable help of the donor operating team, the Kanagawa Liver Transplantation Program has been realized, and its first transplantations conducted safely and successfully.