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Case Reports
. 2025 Feb 17;17(2):e79136.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.79136. eCollection 2025 Feb.

Successful Reuse of a Liver Graft in Transplantation: First Reported Case in Chile

Valeria Galaz  1 , Camila Sotomayor  2 , Matías Orellana  2 , Rolando Rebolledo  1 , Julio Benítez  1 , Erwin Buckel  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Successful Reuse of a Liver Graft in Transplantation: First Reported Case in Chile

Valeria Galaz et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Organ donation in Chile remains low, creating a significant shortage of organs for transplantation and leading to long waiting times. A considerable proportion of patients on the liver transplant waiting list do not receive a transplant, often due to clinical deterioration or death. Several strategies exist to expand the organ pool for liver transplantation. The most commonly used approaches include living-donor liver transplantation, splitting a deceased donor liver into two grafts, and utilizing marginal donor grafts. Less frequently employed methods include donation after circulatory death (DCD), domino transplantation, and the reuse of previously transplanted livers. It is also crucial to optimize their utilization by carefully matching them with lower-risk recipients. There are some case reports and small series of cases regarding the successful reuse of liver grafts in the early and late post-transplant periods. We report the first case of the reuse of a deceased donor liver graft in Chile. A 51-year-old woman with fulminant liver failure initially received the graft, which was later donated following her brain death caused by an intracerebral hemorrhage. After undergoing two additional hours of ex situ hypothermic oxygenated perfusion (HOPE), the graft was successfully transplanted into a 55-year-old man with autoimmune hepatitis. The recipient recovered without complications.

Keywords: hepatic transplant; liver graft reuse; liver transplant; liver transplant physician; reuse of a hepatic graft.

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Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. First recipient brain CT scan on day 2 after transplant
(A) Arrow: approximately 9 mm of midline shift to the right, left transtentorial herniation, and apparent compression of the brainstem against the cerebellar tentorium on the right side. (B) Arrow: extensive left frontal lobar hematoma measuring at least 45 cc. (C) Arrow: another CT scan slice showing the same left frontal lobar hematoma
Figure 2
Figure 2. Doppler ultrasound
(A) Hepatic artery at the hilum. (B) Main portal vein
Figure 3
Figure 3. Liver graft during HOPE before the second implant
HOPE: hypothermic oxygenated perfusion
Figure 4
Figure 4. Graft biopsy during the second procurement
(A) First sample. (B) Second sample
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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