To determine living donors' risk of early death and catastrophic events after liver donation, researchers examined national data on live liver donors who donated between April 1994 and March 2011. They matched these donors with live kidney donors and with healthy respondents from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). Of the 4,111 adults who donated a portion of their liver, 24% donated a left-lateral segment, 9% a left lobe, and 67% a right lobe.

A total of seven donors died less than 91 days after donation-a rate of 1.7 early deaths per 1,000 donors. The death rate among kidney donors for the same period was 0.5 deaths per 1,000 donors, but this difference wasn't statistically significant. The risk of early death wasn't related to whether the procedures were adult-to-child or adult-to-adult transplantations. There was also no association between the liver section donated and the risk of early death.

Over the entire 17-year study period, 11 liver donors experienced a catastrophic event: seven early deaths, one subfulminant liver failure, and three acute liver failures. The risk of experiencing a catastrophic event wasn't affected by the liver section donated or whether donation was to an adult or child. However, there were five initially nonfatal catastrophic events during the study period, all occurring in patients donating right lobes.

To determine long-term mortality, the 4,111 liver donors were followed for a median of almost eight years. The mortality rate in this group was 1.04 deaths per 1,000 person-years, similar to the rates among kidney donors and NHANES III participants.-SDSJ

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