Liver transplantation from DCD donors in the UK

This interesting cohort study has just been published in BMJ Open and suggests that the recipients of DCD livers after risk adjustment have twice the risk of graft loss and death within 3 years of transplantation than recipients of livers from DBD donors. However there is a considerable difference in outcomes between the seven UK transplant centres in that some have no increased risk of death or graft loss. The overall effect is due to the results from some of the units with a higher risk of graft loss and recipient mortality. This study is based on a national database of liver transplantation in the UK. The database includes almost 100% of liver transplants carried out in the UK and there is good data quality and follow up, thus eliminating a risk of selective reporting.

Thus more work is need to unravel the reason for the different results between the liver transplant centres when using DCD donors.