An anonymous survey of living donors who gave part of their liver for transplant to their children found overwhelming support for the procedure regardless of recipient outcome or the occurrence of a complication, according to researchers.

The researchers said they sent surveys to 41 donors who underwent living donor surgery between June 1992 and June 1999, prior to the recent upsurge in adult-to-adult living-donor liver donation. Eighty percent of the donors responded.

Reporting in Annals of Surgery, the researchers said three out of four donors perceived that it took them less than three months for "complete" recovery from the surgery. One in six perceived recovery time to be three to six months, and one in ten reported it took more than six months.

"Donors overwhelmingly endorsed living donation regardless of recipient outcome or the occurrence of a complication," the researchers reported. "Eighty-nine percent advocated 'increased' application of living donation beyond 'emergency situations,'and no donor responded that living donation should be abandoned or that he or she felt 'forced'to donate."

Other sources: Annals of Surgery