Predictors for Successful Liver Transplantation and Risk Factors

Liver transplantation is the only curative treatment option for end stage liver disease. Moreover, oncological liver disease (hepatocellular carcinoma) is an important relevant indication for liver transplantation, together with acute liver failure. Since the first successful liver transplantation by Professor Thomas Starzl in 1967, liver transplantation has changed in many aspects. This concerns not only surgical, anaesthesiological and immunological improvements and further technical developments, but also altered patient characteristics. Patients undergoing liver transplantation are nowadays often more challenging, due to their age and relevant comorbidities. The number of liver transplantations is constantly rising. However, there are more patients in need of liver transplantation than donor grafts are available. Discrepancies between liver transplant candidates and organ supply can only partially be compensated by split liver transplantation and liver transplantation from living donors. To boost the pool of donor grafts, even marginal organs within the extended donor criteria (EDC) are being increasingly allocated. In some countries, even "donation after cardiac death (DCD) organs" are allocated as well. Marginal donor grafts are often associated with reduced graft and patient survival after liver transplantation. To improve the quality of poor liver grafts, innovations in organ conservation with development of new techniques as the machine perfusion techniques have been established in recent years. In summary, the constellation of risk factors of donor grafts as well as transplant recipients has become more challenging in recent decades. It is important to know the specific risk factors and predictors for liver transplantation, in order to obtain the best possible graft and patient survival after liver transplantation. This review gives an overview of predictors for liver transplantation, specific risk scores and indices for donor/recipient match as well as new technical devices in liver transplantation.