By University of Pittsburgh
Dozens of children die each year in the U.S. while waiting for a new liver. A new analysis led by University of Pittsburgh and UPMC physician-researchers suggests that greater use of partial liver transplants — either from a living donor or by splitting a deceased donor’s liver for two recipients — could save many of these young lives.
Published in the July issue of Liver Transplantation, the study found that transplant centers offering partial liver transplants, also known as technical variant grafts (TVGs), had fewer waitlist deaths than those providing traditional whole deceased donor liver transplants only. The findings suggest that more training, support and collaboration across centers to support TVG transplants could help eliminate pediatric liver waitlist mortality.
Read the full article in Newswise.