Liver Transplantation from Elderly Donors (≥85 Years Old).

BACKGROUND: Despite the ongoing trend of increasing donor ages in liver transplantation (LT) setting, a notable gap persists in the availability of comprehensive guidelines for the utilization of organs from elderly donors. This study aimed to evaluate the viability of livers grafts from donors aged ≥85 years and report the post-LT outcomes compared with those from "ideal" donors under 40 years old. METHODS: Conducted retrospectively at a single center from 2005 to 2023, this study compared outcomes of LTs from donors aged ≥85 y/o and ≤40 y/o, with the propensity score matching to the recipient's gender, age, BMI, MELD score, redo-LT, LT indication, and cause of donor death. RESULTS: A total of 76 patients received grafts from donors ≥85 y/o and were compared to 349 liver grafts from donors ≤40 y/o. Prior to PSM, the 5-year overall survival was 63% for the elderly group and 77% for the young group (p = 0.002). After PSM, the 5-year overall survival was 63% and 73% (p = 0.1). A nomogram, developed at the time of graft acceptance and including HCC features, predicted 10-year survival after LT using a graft from a donor aged ≥85. CONCLUSIONS: In the context of organ scarcity, elderly donors emerge as a partial solution. Nonetheless, without proper selection, LT using very elderly donors yields inferior long-term outcomes compared to transplantation from very young donors ≤40 y/o. The resulting nomogram based on pre-transplant criteria allows for the optimization of elderly donor/recipient matching to achieve satisfactory long-term results, in addition to traditional matching methods.

Prediction of the Total Liver Weight using anthropological clinical parameters: does complexity result in better accuracy?

BACKGROUND: The performance of linear models predicting Total Liver Weight (TLW) remains moderate. The use of more complex models such as Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Generalized Additive Model (GAM) or including the variable "steatosis" may improve TLW prediction. This study aimed to assess the value of ANN and GAM and the influence of steatosis for predicting TLW. METHODS: Basic clinical and morphological variables of 1560 cadaveric donors for liver transplantation were randomly split into a training (2/3) and validation set (1/3). Linear models, ANN and GAM were built by using the training cohort and evaluated with the validation cohort. RESULTS: The TLW is subject to major variations among donors with similar morphological parameters. The performance of ANN and GAM were moderate and similar to that of linear models (concordance coefficient from 0.36 to 0.44). In 28-30% of cases, TLW cannot be predicted with a margin of error ≤20%. The addition of the variable "steatosis" to each model did not improve their performance. CONCLUSION: TLW prediction based on anthropological parameters carry a significant risk of error despite the use of more complex models. Others determinants of TLW need to be identified and imaging-based volumetric measurements should be preferred when feasible.

Twenty-year protocol liver biopsies: Invasive but useful for the management of liver recipients.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Most liver transplant centres have discontinued the practice of protocol liver biopsies (LB), mainly because of the perceived lack of therapeutic benefit. This study aimed to examine the usefulness of 20-year LBs. METHODS: Ten, 15, and 20-year protocol LBs from 147 patients surviving for >20 years were reviewed. Twenty-year biopsy findings were correlated with clinical data. RESULTS: Twenty-year-biopsy patients (N=91) and 20-year-non-biopsy patients (N=56) were similar in terms of transplant data, adverse events, and liver function tests (LFTs). Twenty-year LBs revealed a 90% prevalence of abnormalities, among which viral chronic hepatitis (VCH) was the most common (46%). Between 15 and 20 years, hepatic structural abnormalities were the only disorder to increase (p=0.008). An individual progression of abnormalities occurred in 56% of patients. At 20 years, the negative and positive predictive values (PV) of LFTs with respect to histological abnormalities were 95% and 18%, respectively; in VCH, Fibrotest and transient elastography displayed poor discriminative ability for fibrosis (80% and 81% discordance, respectively), but were satisfactory regarding significant fibrosis (negative PV of 77.7% and 80%, respectively). A decrease in immunosuppression was less frequent (14/91 vs. 20/56, p=0.008) while an increase was more common (15/91 vs. 2/56, p=0.017) in 20-year-biopsy patients than in non-biopsy patients. Antiviral therapy was administered in seven of the 20-year biopsy patients, but in none of the non-biopsy patients (p=0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Twenty-year LBs provided important histological information on graft function that was available to a limited degree from LFTs and non-invasive markers. They exerted an impact on immunosuppressive and antiviral therapies.

Long-term effects of calcineurin inhibitor conversion to mycophenolate mofetil on renal function after liver transplantation.

Calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) are the cornerstone of immunosuppression after liver transplantation. However, CNI treatment is frequently associated with chronic renal failure (CRF). The reduction or interruption of CNI may reduce renal failure. We prospectively studied 49 liver recipients treated with CNI (tacrolimus, n = 14; cyclosporine, n = 35) who secondarily developed CNI-associated CRF and for whom mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) was introduced to reduce or withdraw CNI. The creatinine clearance (CCl; 42.9 +/- 14 ml/minute) increased significantly after CNI reduction (48.8 +/- 17 ml/minute after 1 year, 49.9 +/- 18 ml/minute after 2 years, and 58.4 +/- 20 ml/minute after 3 years, P < 0.0001). CCl decreased during the 2 years before CNI reduction at a rate of -5.6 +/- 5 ml/minute/year; for the 2 years after CNI reduction, CCl increased significantly by +3.2 +/- 4.3 ml/minute/year (P < 0.0001). Ten patients did not have improved renal function after 1 year, but the rate of decrease in CCl slowed after CNI reduction. Three parameters were identified as risk factors for unresponsiveness to CNI reduction: (1) low CCl at MMF introduction, (2) a high rate of CCl decrease during the 2 years before conversion, and (3) alcoholic cirrhosis. The type of CNI molecule used did not impair the renal response. None of the patients developed acute or chronic graft rejection after the reduction or interruption of CNI. In liver recipients with CRF, a reduction or withdrawal of CNI concomitantly with the introduction of MMF was safe and was associated with an improvement in renal function.