Surgical Complications in 100 Donor Hepatectomies for Living Donor Liver Transplantation in a Single Brazilian Center

The rising demand for liver transplantation has continued to outspace the availability of deceased donor organs, leading to the need for other treatment options including living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). A precise evaluation of surgical complications is the most important issue in this setting. There are controversies about donor morbidity with reports ranging from 13%-75%. The aim of this study was to retrospectively analyze 100 LDLTs performed in a single Brazilian center from December 2002 to August 2008, stratifying the complications according to Clavien's scoring system. None of the donors experienced life-threatening complications or died. The majority of donors (n = 74) did not suffer any complication. Twenty-eight complications were observed in 26 patients. Fifty-seven hepatectomies were performed for adult and 43 for pediatric transplantations. According to the Brisbane classifications, we performed 49 right and 2 left hepatectomies as well as 49 left lateral segmentectomies. According to Clavien, the complications were as follows: grade I (n = 11; 39.2%); grade II (n = 8; 28.5%); and grade III (n = 9; 32.3%). No patient presented with grade IV or V. The most common problem a biliary tract injury, similar to other series. In this Brazilian series, hepatectomy for LDLT was a safe procedure with low morbidity, regardless of the type of liver resection. This practice will probably continue to grow to alleviate the pressure of growing waiting lists.