Segmental orthotopic hepatic transplantation as a means to improve patient survival and diminish waiting-list mortality.

Pediatric liver transplantation continues to be limited by the availability of suitable liver donors, a factor that restricts programmatic development and ultimately contributes to death on the recipient waiting list. We report the application of segmental liver transplantation as a technique to address both these problems as well as improving the outcome of the child undergoing the transplant procedure. Since 1986, 37 children have undergone orthotopic liver transplantation. Twenty-three children have received whole-organ grafts; 81% survived. Of those receiving whole-organ grafts, 15% had arterial thrombotic complications and 23% required retransplantation. More importantly, 29% of those children listed for transplantation died while waiting for a donor organ to become available, with a mean interval of 1.7 months (range, 2 days to 4.5 months). Since July 1988, segmental liver transplantation has been a component of our therapeutic armamentarium, and of the past 20 liver recipients, 16 have received a left lobe segmental graft. The results of the segmental transplant series have shown striking improvements. First, no child has died while awaiting donor organ availability. Second, segmental liver recipient survival is equivalent to that of whole-organ graft recipients (81%). Third, hepatic arterial thrombosis, especially a problem in high-risk infant transplants, was reduced by this technique (5%). Retransplantation due to graft complications has not increased (21%). These data suggest a vital role for segmental liver transplantation not only as a remedial salvage procedure for the critically ill child, but also as a primary transplant option.