Pediatric Transplantation

This study compares pediatric liver transplant outcomes between living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) and donation after brain death (DBD), highlighting the impact of cold ischemia time, blood transfusions, and recipient characteristics on postoperative complications and survival rates.

Partial heart transplant grafts remain viable during prolonged cold preservation, far exceeding traditional heart transplant ischemia limits. This breakthrough could revolutionize transplant logistics, enabling wider donor access and reducing wait times for life-saving, growth-capable heart valve implants.

A new anticoagulation protocol has helped reduce hepatic artery thrombosis rates and hospital length of stay in pediatric liver transplant recipients. To achieve better outcomes, recent emphasis has been placed on early extubation, and increased use of split liver grafts, which has successfully expanded the donor pool.

2D-SWE reliably detects significant liver graft fibrosis in pediatric liver transplant recipients, including split-liver cases. This non-invasive method shows promise for improving long-term outcomes and reducing the need for surveillance biopsies, though it does not replace the necessity of liver biopsies.

Given the variability in pediatric donor heart utilization among OPOs, we examined factors that may explain this variability, including differences in donor medical management, organ quality, and candidate factors.