Bioethics of living donor liver transplantation

Bioethics has been central to living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), which mandates a high recipient benefit and an acceptably low donor risk. The double equipoise imposes the contextual features of this already technically complex treatment. This research aimed at looking into key bioethical issues of LDLT in the light of the contemporary practice standards. In adult LDLT, in order to provide a partial graft of adequate size, donor right hepatectomy is often required. This procedure pioneered by The University of Hong Kong is now being performed at many centers and by many surgeons. Through close guidance and gradual granting of surgical privilege, newer surgeons can now perform this operation safely with low blood loss (400 mL) and low complication rates ( 30%). Analysis of our series also showed that right liver donors with a smaller remnant left liver had higher peak bilirubin level and longer peak prothrombin time after the operation. Severe complications were associated with hyperbilirubinemia (p=0.031) while prolonged hospital stay was associated with prolonged prothrombin time (p=0.011) and smaller remnant left liver (p=0.036). Facts need to be known to potential right liver donors before operation. Donor left hepatectomy, which carries a lower donor risk, is more feasible for donors with a larger left liver and recipients with a smaller body size. Lowering the graft size requirement also allows more LDLTs being done using left livers. The percentages of left liver LDLTs feasible with a graft to standard liver volume (G/SLV) ≥ 40%, ≥ 35%, ≥ 30%, and ≥ 25% were 5.8%, 12.5%, 29.1%, and 62.3% respectively. For every 5% decrease in G/SLV ratio, twice as many left liver LDLTs could be performed. The 5-year survival rate was 85.7% for liver transplantation recipients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) within the Up-to-7 criteria, unaffected by the presence of microvascular invasion (88.2% vs. 85.1%, p=0.652). This is comparable with that of liver resection patients with HCC without microvascular invasion (81.2%, p=0.227) but far superior to that of liver resection patients with lesions with microvascular invasion (50.0%, p