Most Liver Donors Do Well After the Surgery

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who donate part of their liver to a loved-one in need of a transplant can be assured that doing so is pretty safe.

There may be a period of recovery following partial liver removal, but most procedures do not run into complications or lead to permanent consequences for the donors, researchers report in the Archives of Surgery.

Dr. Christopher R. Shackleton of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles and colleagues note that the extent, definition and reporting of complications among live liver donors has not been well defined.

"While these considerations clearly have relevance to all forms of surgery," he told Reuters Health, "they are all the more germane when considering a very major operation which confers no direct health benefit to the individual undergoing it."

To gain further insight, the researchers prospectively reviewed adverse events associated with liver transplantation at their center.

Of the 202 people who underwent evaluation for live liver donation, 42 went on to surgery. In five of these candidate donors, removal of the liver segment was aborted for anatomical reasons.

Among the 37 actual donors, there were no deaths or any significant liver dysfunction. However, 8 experienced a total of 11 adverse events, which included a narcotic overdose, bile leaks and wound infection.

All but one complication -- a case of painful nerve damage -- resolved without permanent disability.

The overall incidence of adverse events of 0.3 per case is relatively low, the researchers note.

As Shackleton pointed out, the ability to successfully transplant a partial liver from a living donor "represents a technical tour-de-force for the international transplant community. However, it remains a procedure in evolution and our enthusiasm to aid the sick must not overshadow the safety of the donor."

SOURCE: Archives of Surgery, September 2005.