Successful transplantation of cadaveric polycystic liver: case report and review of the literature.

The number of candidates awaiting liver transplantation continues to exceed the available donor organ pool. This steadily increasing donor organ shortage calls for the widening of selection criteria for potential donor organs. Strategies to increase the number of liver allografts include liver splitting, use of donors over 70 years, use of steatotic donor livers, and reutilization of liver allografts after brain death of the first recipient. We report the successful use of a polycystic donor liver and review the experience with this donor population. We propose that the selective use of polycystic donor livers containing small (<5 cm) cysts with preserved liver parenchyma is safe and appropriate.