Living Donor Liver Transplantation (LDLT) for Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) within and Outside Traditional Selection Criteria: A Multicentric North American Experience.
Academic Article
Overview
abstract
OBJECTIVE: We evaluated long-term oncologic outcomes of patients post-LDLT within and outside standard transplant selection criteria and the added value of the incorporation of the New York-California (NYCA) score. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: LDLT offers an opportunity to decrease the liver transplant waitlist, reduce waitlist mortality and expand selection criteria for patients with HCC. METHODS: Primary adult LDLT recipients between Oct-1999 and Aug-2019 were identified from a multicenter cohort of twelve North American centers. Post-transplant and recurrence-free survival were evaluated using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Three-hundred-and-sixty LDLTs were identified. Patients within Milan criteria (MC) at transplant had a 1-,5-, and 10-year post-transplant survival of 90.9%,78.5%, and 64.1% vs. outside MC 90.4%,68.6%, and 57.7%(P=0.20). For patients within the UCSF criteria, respective post-transplant survival was 90.6%,77.8%, and 65.0%, vs. outside UCSF 92.1%,63.8%, and 45.8%(P=0.08). Fifty-three (83%) patients classified as outside MC at transplant would have been classified as either low- or acceptable risk with the NYCA score. These patients had a 5-year OS of 72.2%. Similarly, 28(80%) patients classified as outside UCSF at transplant would have been classified as low- or acceptable risk with a 5-year OS of 65.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term survival is excellent for patients with HCC undergoing LDLT within and outside selection criteria, exceeding the minimum recommended 5-years rate of 60% proposed by consensus guidelines. The NYCA categorization offers insight into identifying a substantial proportion of patients with HCC outside the MC and the UCSF criteria who still achieve similar post-LDLT outcomes as patients within the criteria.
