Current status and recent advances of liver transplantation from donation after cardiac death

Figure 1 Data from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Liver Transplant Unit. (A) Note the average number of patients in the transplant wait list, especially in the years 2001/02, 2004/05 and 2008/09 had not changed; in contrast, the mortality while on transplant wait list has been significantly increased despite an increase in the LT activity from donors after cardiac death donors (B).

Figure 2 Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography images of 60-year-old patient received a donors after cardiac death liver graft received 7 years ago. Patient developed ischemic type intrahepatic biliary strictures 8 mo since transplant, confirmed to be of ischemic origin by liver biopsy. Note: dilated intrahepatic ducts proximal to intrahepatic biliary strictures.

Figure 3 Diagrammatic representation of major steps in donors after cardiac death donation and current research targets. ¹Obligatory stand-off time varies according to the setting; in the United Kingdom this is 5 min whilst 2-10 min are being observed by others according to the centre policy. DCD: Donors after cardiac death.