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Comparison Between Living Donor Liver Transplantation Recipients Who Met the Milan and UCSF Criteria After Successful Downstaging Therapies

  • Original Article
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Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery Aims and scope

Abstract

Background and Aims

Various downstaging therapies were introduced to liver recipients who could not meet the relative criteria for liver transplantation, and many endpoints were reported. The most common criteria used were the Milan criteria and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) criteria. However, no comparison was made between them, and we attempted to find possible differences between the living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) patients who met the Milan criteria and those who met the UCSF criteria after accepting preoperative downstaging therapies.

Materials and Methods

We performed a retrospective study of all 72 patients at our center from January 2003 to March 2009 who were diagnosed with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma but accepted various downstaging therapies. Some patients met the Milan criteria (group 1), and some met the UCSF criteria (group 2) but not the Milan criteria. We collected the data from the two groups and then compared the preoperative demographic data, downstaging therapies, intraoperative data from LDLT, and the recovery and complications after LDLT. Survival rates were compared using Kaplan–Meier analysis.

Results

Only 44 patients (61.1 %) met the criteria for liver transplantation, 21 cases met the Milan criteria (group 1), and 23 cases met the UCSF criteria (group 2) but not the Milan criteria. All of the 44 patients accepted right lobe living liver donor liver transplantation in our center. The difference in the baseline characteristics between the two groups did not reach statistical significance. The mean number of downstaging treatments per patient was 1.81 ± 0.35 in group 1 and 1.83 ± 0.41 in group 2 (P = 0.928). Most of the patients received only one downstaging treatment, and transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) was the most common downstaging therapy. Four patients suffered complications after downstaging therapies: intra-abdominal hemorrhage after right hepatectomy, upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage after TACE, biliary fistula after resection, and hand–foot syndrome after taking sorafenib. All complications after LDLT, classified according to the Clavien–Dindo system, were compared within the two groups, and the calculated score of the complications in group 1 was 1.48 ± 1.63, which was greater than that of group 2 (1.39 ± 1.64), but this difference did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.865). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 90.4, 76.2, and 71.4 % in group 1 and 91.3, 73.9, and 69.6 % in group 2, respectively (P > 0.05). Seven patients (three in group 1 and four in group 2) had tumor recurrence after a median follow-up period of 72 months. The pathology findings were not different between the two groups.

Conclusion

Recipients who meet the Milan or UCSF criteria after accepting successful preoperative downstaging therapy in LDLT can achieve the same result.

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Abbreviations

UCSF:

University of California, San Francisco

HCC:

Hepatocellular carcinoma

LDLT:

Living donor liver transplantation

TACE:

Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization

LT:

Liver transplantation

RAF:

Radiofrequency ablation

EI:

Ethanol injection

UNOS:

United Network for Organ Sharing

AFP:

Alpha-fetoprotein

BMI:

Body mass index

ICU:

Intensive care unit

GRWR:

Graft-to-recipient weight ratio

OLT:

Orthotopic liver transplantation

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by grants from The National Sciences and Technology Major Project of China (2012ZX10002-016 and 2012ZX10002-017).

Conflict of Interest

No benefits in any form have been received or will be received from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.

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  1. JY Lei

    Present address: Liver Transplantation Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

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  1. Liver Transplantation Center, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041, China

    LN Yan

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  1. JY Lei
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Correspondence to LN Yan.

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Lei, J., Yan, L. Comparison Between Living Donor Liver Transplantation Recipients Who Met the Milan and UCSF Criteria After Successful Downstaging Therapies. J Gastrointest Surg 16, 2120–2125 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-012-2019-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11605-012-2019-y

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