Indications for pediatric liver transplantation.

Two hundred fifty pediatric (less than 18 years of age) patients underwent orthotopic liver transplantation because of end-stage liver disease and were given combination therapy with cyclosporine and prednisone. The most common indications for transplantation in decreasing order of frequency were biliary atresia, inborn errors of metabolism, and postnecrotic cirrhosis. The 5-year actuarial survival for the entire group was 69.2%. Age and diagnosis did not influence survival. Infections were the most common cause of death, followed by liver failure and cerebrovascular accident. The impact of retransplantation on survival depends on the indication. The survival is better when retransplantation is carried out after rejection than because of technical complications, and the latter has a better survival than does primary graft nonfunction. The difference in survival among these groups is statistically significant. The quality of life for 164 of 173 survivors is good to excellent; only nine children are currently experiencing medical problems. A persistent problem in pediatric transplantation is the scarcity of small donors.