Liver transplantation from living related donors: review of world experience and its implications for India.

Living related liver transplantation (LRLT) was made possible because of a better understanding of the anatomy of the liver and advances made in hepatic surgical techniques. It was developed to reduce the waiting period for pediatric recipients. In countries like Japan, which do not have brain stem death legislation, LRLT is the only modality available for treating end stage liver disease. The world experience has shown that LRLT has been successfully performed in a variety of conditions leading to acute and chronic liver failure not only in children, but in young adults as well. The initial results of LRLT appear to be better than liver transplantation from cadaveric organs in terms of graft survival and function. Donor safety has been of prime concern. LRLT has tremendous potential in India with or without the brain stem death legislation. Liver transplantation has not been performed in India although the need and expertise for it exists.