Twenty two living related liver transplantation in children suffering from biliary atresia: a single centre experience

Objective To review our experience of living-related liver transplantation in children with biliary atresia (BA). Methods From June 2006 to July 2009,a total of 22 biliary atresia patients underwent living-related liver transplantation. The mean follow-up time was 18. 5 (1-36) months. We reviewed the outcomes of the transplantation. Results Of the 22 cases, 9 patients underwent Kasai procedure previously. Twenty of them were under 1-year of age and 21 weighed less than 10 kg at the time of transplant. There was no difference in the average duration of surgery and the amount of blood loss between patients of various age and weight. The average graft-to-recipient weight ratio (GW/RW)ratio was 3.5 (2.1-5.7) %. There were 27 cases of postoperative complications. These included 3bleeding requiring reoperation, 1 portal vein complication, 1 hepatic vein complication, 3 hepatic artery complications and 1 biliary tract complication. There were 3 cases of perioperative death, 1 case of retransplantation and 5 cases of acute rejection (22.7%). The 6-month, 1-year and 3-year actual recipient survival rates were 86.4% ,82.2% and 82.2% ,respectively. Conclusions The previous Kasai, operation,weight of recipients and GR/WR did not affect the outcome. Donor liver quality and meticulous surgical technique may improve the success rate of transplantation. Key words: Bilary atresia;  Liver transplantation