BACKGROUND: In 2011, a pilot program for deceased organ donation was initiated in China. We describe the first successful series of liver transplants in the pilot program.
METHODS: From July 2011 to August 2012, our center performed 26 liver transplants from a pool of 29 deceased donors. All organ donation and allograft procurement were conducted according to the national protocol. The clinical data of donors and recipients were collected and summarized retrospectively.
RESULTS: Among the 29 donors, 24 were China Category II donors (organ donation after cardiac death), and five were China Category III donors (organ donation after brain death followed by cardiac death). The recipients were mainly the patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The one-year patient survival rate was 80.8% with a median follow-up of 422 (2-696) days. Among the five mortalities during the follow-up, three died of tumor recurrence. In terms of post-transplant complications, 9 recipients (34.6%) experienced early allograft dysfunction, 1 (3.8%) had non-anastomotic biliary stricture, and 1 (3.8%) was complicated with hepatic arterial thrombosis. None of these complications resulted in patient death. Notably, primary non-function was not observed in any of the grafts.
CONCLUSION: With careful donor selection, liver transplant from deceased donors can be performed safely and plays a critical role in overcoming the extreme organ shortage in China.