Abstract

BACKGROUND: Transition to adult care can trigger certain problems for pediatric liver transplant recipients. At our institution, the same transplant team performs both adult and pediatric liver transplantation and post-transplant care; thus, pediatric liver transplant recipients do not have to be transferred. However, it is unclear whether this system affects the recipient’s outcome during the transition period. Therefore, we retrospectively assessed pediatric liver transplant recipients who reached adulthood at our institution.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a single-center, retrospective study involving consecutive pediatric living-donor liver transplant recipients who reached the age of 18 by October 2017. A total of 36 recipients, 20 females and 16 males, were included in the study.

RESULTS: The 5- and 10-year patient survival after reaching the age of 18 was 100% and 93%, respectively. All of the 3 patients who died had been suffering from secondary biliary cirrhosis due to biliary stricture. In 5 patients (13.9%), biliary stricture became symptomatic or recurred after reaching the age of 18 years. Late-onset acute rejection and chronic rejection developed in 2 (5.6%) and 4 patients (11.1%), respectively. Only 4 (11.1%) patients were obviously noncompliant. We found no significant association between compliance and rejection or survival. Among the patients who are 18 years old and older, 5 (13.9%) had a psychiatric diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric liver transplant recipients who underwent transplant surgery and received post-transplant care at our institution have good long-term outcomes. This suggests that having the same team perform both adult and pediatric transplantation and post-transplant care is beneficial for young adult recipients.

Keywords: Liver Transplantation, Living Donors, Pediatrics, Transition to Adult Care, young adult, Adolescent, Graft Survival, Retrospective Studies, Survival Rate, transplant recipients