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. 2021 Oct;35(10):e14438.
doi: 10.1111/ctr.14438. Epub 2021 Sep 23.

Post-operative outcomes in anonymous living liver donors: What motivates individuals to donate to strangers

Carly Flaig  1   2 , Abhinav Humar  1 , Emily Kirshner  1 , Christopher Hughes  1 , Swaytha Ganesh  1 , Amit Tevar  1 , Jennifer L Steel  1   2   3
Affiliations

Post-operative outcomes in anonymous living liver donors: What motivates individuals to donate to strangers

Carly Flaig et al. Clin Transplant. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Anonymous living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is a strategy to address the shortage of available transplantable livers; however, few studies have been conducted on this population. The objective of this study was to describe the motivations and medical, psychosocial, and financial outcomes of anonymous living liver donors.

Methods: Between 2010-2019, 116 anonymous living liver donors were evaluated, 59 (51.7%) of whom proceeded to surgery. A subset of 21 anonymous donors were matched to biologically/emotionally related donors according to age, gender, race, and duration since surgery. A medical chart review and post-surgical interviews were performed to assess medical and financial outcomes.

Results: The primary motivation for donors was an unselfish desire to help others (43, 72.9%). A total of 13 (22%) anonymous donors experienced complications. Of these, 7 (11.9%) were grade I Clavien-Dindo classification, 5 (8.5%) grade II, 1 was grade III (1.7%); and no patients had grade IV-V Clavien-Dindo complications. Increased anxiety was reported by 3 (5.1%) donors, and one donor reported clinical levels of depression (1.7%). Within the matched controls, anonymous donors were not significantly different to biologically/emotionally related donors with regard to surgical complications, psychosocial, or financial outcomes.

Conclusions: Allowing a greater number of anonymous donors may facilitate the reduction of the waitlist for liver transplant candidates.

Keywords: LDLT; anonymous liver donors; directed living liver donors; living liver donor; non-directed living liver donors.

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