Maternal grafts provide similar outcomes compared with grafts from first-degree relatives

Abstract

There are recent reports suggesting there is a protective effect from maternal grafts in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). This study aims to compare the outcomes of LDLT with mother as donors versus those with first-degree relatives as donors. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed with a database of patients under age 18 who underwent liver transplantation in Queen Mary Hospital from October 1996 to December 2015. Patient demographics, survival outcomes and rejection rates were compared between LDLT versus deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT), as well as between those with mother as donor (MD) versus those with other first-degree relatives as donor (FDD). Results: 115 patients were included in analysis. 85 (73.9%) of them received LDLT, and 30 (26.1%) of them received DDLT. 40 patients (33.3%) received the graft liver from their mothers and 34 (28.3%) from their firstdegree relatives. There was no significant difference in number of rejections when comparing LDLT versus DDLT and MD versus FDD. MD was also shown to provide similar outcomes in terms of recipient survival, graft survival, time to first biopsy-proven rejection and first clinical rejection when compared to FDD. Conclusion: Patients who received LDLT from maternal graft had similar outcomes as those from first-degree relatives.