Pushing the frontiers of living donor right hepatectomy

Living donor right hepatectomy (LDRH) is currently the most common donor surgery in adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation although the morbidity and mortality reported in living donors still contradicts the Hippocratic tenet of “do no harm”. Achieving low complication rates in LDRH remains a matter of major concern. Living donor surgery is performed worldwide as an established solution to the donor shortage. The aim of this study was to assess the current status of LDRH and comment on the future of the procedure; assessment was made from the standpoint of optimizing the donor selection criteria and reducing morbidity based on both the authors’ 8-year institutional experience and a literature review. New possibilities have been explored regarding selection criteria. The safety of living donors with unfavorable conditions, such as low remnant liver volume, fatty change, or old age, should also be considered. Abdominal incisions have become shorter, even without laparoscopic assistance; upper midline laparotomy is the primary incision used in more than 400 consecutive LDRHs in the authors’ institution. Various surgical techniques based on preoperative imaging technology of vascular and biliary anomalies have decreased the anatomical barriers in LDRH. Operative time has been reduced, with low blood loss. Laparoscopic or robotic LDRH has been tried in only a few selected donors. The LDRH-specific, long-term outcomes remain to be addressed. The follow-up duration of these studies should be long enough to address possible late complications. Donor safety, which is the highest priority, is ensured by three factors: preoperative selection, intraoperative surgical technique, and postoperative management. These three focus areas should be continuously refined, with the ultimate goal of zero morbidity.

Successful kidney transplantation from an expanded criteria donor with long-term extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment: A case report

BACKGROUND Due to a shortage of donor kidneys, many centers have utilized graft kidneys from brain-dead donors with expanded criteria. Kidney transplantation(KT)from donors on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation(ECMO) has been identified as a successful way of expanding donor pools. However, there are currently no guidelines or recommendations that guarantee successful KT from donors undergoing ECMO treatment. Therefore, acceptance of appropriate allografts from those donors is solely based on clinician decision.CASE SUMMARY We report a case of successful KT from a brain-dead donor supported by ECMO for the longest duration to date. A 69-year-old male received a KT from a 63-yearold brain-dead donor who had been on therapeutic ECMO treatment for the previous three weeks. The recipient experienced slow recovery of graft function after surgery but was discharged home on post-operative day 17 free from hemodialysis. Allograft function gradually improved thereafter and was comparatively acceptable up to the 12 mo follow-up, with serum creatinine level of 1.67 mg/d L.CONCLUSION This case suggests that donation even after long-term ECMO treatment could provide successful KT to suitable candidates.

EFFECT OF ELECTRON DONORS ON THE SELECTIVE HYDROGENATION OF DIENE TO MONOENE OVER HETEROGENIZED Pd CATALYST

In the selective hydrogenation of diene (or alkyne) using heterogenized homogeneous catalyst, the high selectivity of monoene formation only appears in a very short time interval. The addition of suitable electron donors can decrease or even cease the monoene hydrogenation and thereby keep the high monoene selectivity after reaching its maximum.

Six end-stage renal disease patients benefited from first non-simultaneous single center 6-way kidney exchange transplantation in India

AIM To avoid desensitization protocols and ABO incompatible kidney transplantation(KT) due to high costs and increased risk of infections from intense immunosuppression.METHODS We present institutional ethical review board- approved study of single center 6-way kidney exchange transplantation. The participants comprised ABO incompatibility(n = 1); positive cross-match and/or presence of donor specific antibody(n = 5). The average time required from registration in kidney paired donation(KPD) registry to find suitable donors was 45 d and time required to perform transplants after legal permission was 2 mo. RESULTS Graft and patient survival were 100%, and 100%, respectively. One patient had biopsy-proven acute borderline T cell rejection(Banff update 2013, type 3). Mean serum creatinine was 0.8 mg/dL at 9 mo followup. The waiting time in KPD was short as compared to deceased donor KT. CONCLUSION We report first non-simultaneous, single center, 6-way kidney exchange transplantation from India. Our experience will encourage other centers in India to undertake this practice.