Transplantation of Liver Grafts from Living Donors into Adults — Too Much, Too Soon

Abstract

Since 1995, many liver-transplantation programs in the United States,^1,2 Europe,³ and Asia^4,5 have performed adult-to-adult transplantation of liver grafts from living donors. Since 1997, more than 30 U.S. transplantation programs have performed more than 400 of these procedures. Although six of these programs have performed only 1 procedure each, one program has performed more than 100. Twenty-three centers are planning to start such programs.^6,7 Liver transplantation in adults with the use of grafts from living donors may initially have been regarded as a technical extension of the procedure for transplanting liver grafts from living donors into children. . . .