Introduction

The liver's capacity to grow in response to metabolic need is well known. However, the long-term growth of liver allografts transplanted in pediatric patients has not been characterized.

Methods

Medical records of pediatric patients who received a liver transplant at our center from 1/1/1998 until 12/31/2010 were reviewed to identify patients who have had cross-sectional imaging 1-, 5- and 10-years after transplantation. Patients' liver allograft size was determined from these images and standard liver volumes calculated based on height and weight utilizing age appropriate standard liver volume equations. The percent standard liver volumes (%SLV) of each patient were calculated and compared across the different time points using student's t-test.

Results

18 total patients were identified with cross-sectional imaging 1-year post-transplant. Indications for transplant included Biliary Atresia (4), Hepatoblastoma (3), Progressive Familial Intrahepatic Cholestasis (3), Hepatitis C (2), Re-transplant for chronic rejection (2), Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis, Citrullinemia, Cryptogenic Cirrhosis, and TPN-induced Cholestasis (1 each). Of these, 13 patients also had imaging 5-years post-transplant, 2 at 10-years post-transplant, and 3 with imaging at 5- and 10- years post-transplant. Patients' ages ranged from 0.3-17.7 years with a median of 2.28 years. Median liver volumes were 452.68 (240-2144.2) mL, 713.44 (498-2130.6) mL, and 1043.67 (739-1224.2) mLs at 1-, 5-, and 10-years post-transplant. The %SLV for these patients were 123.4 ± 37.5% 1 year, 97.3 ± 19.5 (p=0.018) 5 years, and 118 ± 27.5 (p=0.55) 10 years post-transplant. Measured liver volumes increased by 58.6% and 170.4%, from 1 to 5 and 1 to 10-years post-transplant respectively.

Conclusion

Liver allografts transplanted into pediatric patients grow along with the recipient and by 5-years normalize to predicted standard liver volume.

CITATION INFORMATION: Chaudhry S, Stern J, Lobritto S, Martinez M, Vitorrio J, Emond J, Kato T, Samstein B, Bentley-Hibbert S, Griesemer A. Growth of Liver Allografts in Pediatric Transplant Recipients. Am J Transplant. 2016;16 (suppl 3).

« Back to 2016 American Transplant Congress