Organ procurement and placement processes entail complex scheduling, logistics and other administrative challenges, especially when organs travel outside the procuring Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) area. Recent studies suggest that one of the major reasons for delays in procurement is administrative complications at donor hospitals where transplant teams are required to work in an unfamiliar environment. However, not much is known about the impact of such administrative complications on outcomes.

Therefore, based on UNOS data from 2002 to 2014, this proposed research examines the outcomes of liver transplants in which livers were procured at the transplant centers. The outcomes were compared to other transplant outcomes, adjusting for commonly known risks and other factors related to organ transfer such as cold ischemia time, regional and national organs. Outcomes of interest were graft survival at 1, 3, 12, 36, and 60 months.

The preliminary findings based on Kaplan-Meier (KM) estimates and Cox-survival analysis are mixed. First, KM estimates show that the survival rates for the same location group are 95.4%, 92.7%, 85.1%, 74.6%, and 66.1% while they are 94.9%, 91.6%, 83.8%, 73.2%, and 64.7% for other transplants. However, Cox-survival analysis reveals that some notable differences in outcomes between the groups are not significant after adjusting for commonly known predictors of graft survivals such as MELD score, DCD and ECD kidneys, donor age, previous transplants, and African American patients (p>0.10).

Thus, it is suggested that the merit of having procurement and transplant at one location may be marginal in the case of liver transplants.

CITATION INFORMATION: Ortiz J, Koizumi N, Kwon C, Zhang Y, Ortiz C. When Liver Transplants and Procurement Occur at One Location – A National Study of Graft Survivals. Am J Transplant. 2016;16 (suppl 3).

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