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. 2013 Sep 3;3(9):e003287.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003287.

Outcomes of transplantation of livers from donation after circulatory death donors in the UK: a cohort study

Christopher J Callaghan  1 , Susan C Charman, Paolo Muiesan, James J Powell, Alexander E Gimson, Jan H P van der Meulen; UK Liver Transplant Audit
Affiliations

Outcomes of transplantation of livers from donation after circulatory death donors in the UK: a cohort study

Christopher J Callaghan et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: Outcomes of liver transplantations from donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors may be inferior to those achieved with donation after brain death (DBD) donors. The impact of using DCD donors is likely to depend on specific national practices. We compared risk-adjusted graft loss and recipient mortality after transplantation of DCD and DBD livers in the UK.

Design: Prospective cohort study. Multivariable Cox regression and propensity score matching were used to estimate risk-adjusted HR.

Setting: 7 liver transplant centres in the National Health Service (NHS) hospitals in England and Scotland.

Participants: Adults who received a first elective liver transplant between January 2005 and December 2010 who were identified in the UK Liver Transplant Audit.

Interventions: Transplantation of DCD and DBD livers.

Outcomes: Graft loss and recipient mortality.

Results: In total, 2572 liver transplants were identified with 352 (14%) from DCD donors. 3-year graft loss (95% CI) was higher with DCD livers (27.3%, 21.8% to 33.9%) than with DBD livers (18.2%, 16.4% to 20.2%). After adjustment with regression, HR for graft loss was 2.3 (1.7 to 3.0). Similarly, 3-year mortality was higher with DCD livers (19.4%, 14.5% to 25.6%) than with DBD livers (14.1%, 12.5% to 16.0%) with an adjusted HR of 2.0 (1.4 to 2.8). Propensity score matching gave similar results. Centre-specific adjusted HRs for graft loss and recipient mortality seemed to differ among transplant centres, although statistical evidence is weak (p value for interaction 0.08 and 0.24, respectively).

Conclusions: Graft loss and recipient mortality were about twice as high with DCD livers as with DBD livers in the UK. Outcomes after DCD liver transplantation may vary between centres. These results should inform policies for the use of DCD livers.

Keywords: EPIDEMIOLOGY; STATISTICS & RESEARCH METHODS; Transplantation.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Graft survival after first elective adult liver transplantation using livers from donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors and donation after brain death (DBD) donors.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Centre-specific HR and 95% CI comparing 3-year graft loss (top figure) and recipient mortality (bottom figure). HRs greater than 1 indicate that risks of loss or mortality are greater with donation after circulatory death than with donation after brain death livers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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