Progress in surgical techniques in pediatric liver transplantation

P>Pediatric LT has evolved into an accepted treatment modality for children with end-stage liver disease with excellent long-term graft and patient survival. A number of factors have been critical in the improvement in recipient outcomes including a change in organ donation from donation after cardiac death, to donation after brain death, and more recently live donor LT and a better appreciation of hepatic anatomy allowing for split LT, LDLT, auxiliary partial orthotopic LT, and laparoscopic donor hepatectomy. In this review we summarize the surgical advances that have occurred in pediatric LT that have been important in shaping what is now considered by many to be a routine operation.