Risk Factors for Recurrence of Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis After Living Donor Liver Transplantation: A Single Center Experience

We retrospectively reviewed our 10-year experience with living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in 30 consecutive patients with end-stage primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) to determine long-term patient and graft survival and risk factors for recurrence of PSC. For strict diagnosis of recurrence, patients with hepatic artery thrombosis (n = 2), ABO blood type incompatible transplantation (n = 3), and postoperative survival shorter than 1 year (n = 5) were excluded from the study, leaving 20 patients for analysis. Recurrence was diagnosed in 11 patients 26–71 months after transplantation. Multivariate analysis showed that cytomegalovirus diseases within 3 months after transplantation and related donors were independent risk factors for recurrence. When the effects on recurrence were compared among donor-recipient relationships, there were significant differences, especially between nonrelated donors and parents. Multivariate analysis showed that age was an independent risk factor for time to graft loss. Cytomegalovirus prophylaxis and avoidance of related donors are important in reducing PSC recurrence, although this is a preliminary report with limitations due to the small number of patients. LDLT for young patients with PSC using grafts from their parents might have to be avoided where deceased donor liver transplantation is available.