ACS: Livers Have Potential to Function for >100 Years

FRIDAY, Oct. 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A subset of livers that have been transplanted and have a cumulative age of at least 100 years have been identified, and patients receiving these livers have good outcomes, according to a study presented at the Scientific Forum of the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2022, held from Oct. 16 to 20 in San Diego.

Yash Kadakia, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues identified donor livers with a cumulative age (sum of initial age at transplant plus posttransplant survival) of at least 100 years (CENTURION) from all transplants between 1990 and 2022 using the UNOS STARfile. Twenty-five of 253,406 transplanted livers met the CENTURION group criteria.

The researchers found that CENTURION donors had lower transaminases, a lower incidence of diabetes, and fewer donor infections, although they were significantly older (84.7 versus 38.5 years). At the time of transplant, CENTURION recipients had a significantly lower Model of End-Stage Liver Disease score. None of the CENTURION grafts were lost to primary nonfunction or to vascular/biliary complications. The rate of rejection at 12 months did not differ significantly between CENTURION recipients and other transplanted livers. Significantly better allograft and patient survival was seen for CENTURION transplants.

“Livers are incredibly resilient organs,” Kadakia said in a statement. “We’re using older donors, we have better surgical techniques, we have advances in immunosuppression, and we have better matching of donor and recipient factors. All these things allow us to have better outcomes.”