NIH Launches Study of Adult Living-Donor Liver Transplants

The National Institutes of Health announced it was launching a seven-year study, which will take place at 10 U.S. transplant centers, that will focus on outcomes for both donors and recipients of adult-to-adult living-donor liver transplants.

"Our goal is to gather accurate data in a disciplined, careful way so we can give liver transplant patients and potential donors solid information about the risks and benefits of this innovative and controversial procedure," said Dr. Jean Emond of Columbia University, a co-chair of the study.

While the number of living-donor liver transplants has surged in the past several years, the death of a donor earlier this year at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York focused renewed attention on the fact that little data has been collected on just how risky it may be.

Adults in need of liver transplantation require as much as half or more of the donor's liver, necessitating a more extensive and complex surgery, with potentially greater risks for the donor and the recipient. Post-surgical problems for donors can include infection, pneumonia, and leaking bile, which can require further surgery.

Dr. James Everhart of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases said the Adult to Adult Living Donor Liver Transplant Cohort Study, known as A2ALL, will compare outcomes of this new procedure with the outcomes for patients who receive livers from cadavers.

Transplant centers selected to participate in A2ALL include: UCLA; University of Colorado; University of North Carolina; Columbia University; University of Virginia; University of California, San Francisco; Northwestern; University of Michigan; University of Pennsylvania.

Other sources: NIH