Study: Livers From Obese Donors Do Not Hurt Transplant Outcomes

Livers from severely obese cadaver donors, and moderately fatty donor livers, appear to function as well as livers from thinner donors in transplant recipients, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

"Previous studies have suggested that moderate donor liver steatosis (fat buildup inside liver cells) is associated with an increased incidence of primary graft nonfunction, delayed graft function, early graft loss, and retransplantation loss," the researchers said.

To explore the effect of donor body mass index (BMI) on successful transplant outcomes, the researchers reviewed information covering more than 22,000 transplant recipients from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database.

They divided the donors into four categories: BMI less than 25 (regarded as normal weight). 25 to 29.9 (overweight), 30 to 34.9 (obese), and 35 (severely obese).

They also obtained information on steatosis for the livers received by 1,603 of the recipients, and divided them into three groups: steatosis less than 20 percent, steatosis ranging from 20 to 35 percent, and steatosis greater than 35 percent.

Reporting in the journal Liver Transplantation, the researchers said they found the incidence of primary graft non-function and the need for early retransplantation similar in all groups -- with the severity of obesity or steatosis not a predictor of increased problems.

And they said that after adjusting for variables, survival of both the patient and the transplanted liver was similar regardless of the obesity of the donor at follow-up periods of 1 month and 1, 2, and 5 years, and was also similar regardless of the severity of the steatosis in the donated liver.

"Severe donor obesity or moderate steatosis did not influence short-term and long-term outcome of liver transplantation," the reseachers concluded.

Other sources: Liver Transplantation