Orthotopic liver transplantation in children. Two-year experience with 47 patients

During a 24-month period (May 1981 to May 1983), 47 pediatric patients (ranging in age from 7 months to 18 years) underwent orthotopic liver transplantation using cyclosporine and prednisone. Major indications were biliary atresia/hypoplasia, and metabolic liver disease. Thirty-two of 138 patients evaluated for the procedure died prior to transplantation. Thirty patients are alive from 6 to 29 months later including 7/15 patients who required retransplantation. Twenty-one of 32 patients are alive at 1 year following initial transplantation. All 30 survivors are clinically well and living at home; only one has an abnormal bilirubin level. Serious, life-threatening medical and surgical complications were common during the early months following transplantation. With one exception, deaths and major rejection episodes occurred early (before 120 days). All survivors are relieved of the stigmata of chronic liver disease, and many have demonstrated catch-up growth. Liver transplantation is an effective treatment for end-stage pediatric liver disease

Angiography of liver transplantation patients

Over 45 months, 119 angiographic examinations were performed in 95 patients prior to liver transplantation, and 53 examinations in 44 patients after transplantation. Transplantation feasibility was influenced by patency of the portal vein and inferior vena cava. Selective arterial portography, wedged hepatic venography, and transhepatic portography were used to assess the portal vein if sonography or computed tomography was inconclusive. Major indications for angiography after transplantation included early liver failure, sepsis, unexplained elevation of liver enzyme levels, and delayed bile leakage, all of which may be due to hepatic artery thrombosis. Other indications included gastrointestinal tract bleeding, hemobilia, and evaluation of portal vein patency in patients with chronic rejection who were being considered for retransplantation. Normal radiographic features of hepatic artery and portal vein reconstruction are demonstrated. Complications diagnosed using results of angiography included hepatic artery or portal vein stenoses and thromboses and pancreaticoduodenal aneurysms. Intrahepatic arterial narrowing, attenuation, slow flow, and poor filling were seen in five patients with rejection

Linear Growth Following Pediatric Liver Transplantation

The linear growth of 29 patients was evaluated from two to 4⅓ years after liver transplantation. All patients received cyclosporine and low-dose prednisone. Eight patients displayed acceleration of linear growth velocity and were above the fifth percentile at the end of the evaluation period. Four patients grew normally prior to transplantation and continued to grow normally after the surgical procedure. Only four patients dropped from higher levels to below the fifth percentile. Thirteen patients were less than the fifth percentile before and after surgery; ten of these 13 patients have attained normal or accelerated growth velocity. Good linear growth has been achieved in more than three fourths of patients who underwent liver transplantation. © 1987, American Medical Association. All rights reserved

Long-term use of cyclosporine in liver recipients: Reduction of dosages in the first year to avoid nephrotoxicity

Cyclosporine is a potent immunosuppressive drug, which has dose-related nephrotoxicity. In renal transplantation, the differentiation between rejection and toxicity is difficult and even with the aid of blood levels of the drug, it may be difficult to establish a chronic maintenance dose. Long-term survivors after liver transplantation can provide modes with which to establish maintenance doses, as these are dictated by nephrotoxicity in these patients. Twenty-nine liver transplant patients who survived one year or more were followed for changes in their cyclosporine doses. Daily oral cyclosporine dose, BUN, serum creatinine and bilirubin were monitored. The reductions in cyclosporine were dictated almost entirely by the findings of nephrotoxicity. © 1983 by The Williams and Wilkins Co