Donor experience and outcome of pediatric living-related liver transplantation in Saudi Arabia.

Background/purpose: The purpose of this article is to present the first series of living donation of liver grafts in Saudi Arabia, as well as in the Arab World, and to report the morbidity and mortality of the living donors after such procedures.

Methods: A retrospective review of the medical charts of 37 living donors who were involved in the procedure of living-related liver transplantation (LRLT), that took place in Riyadh Armed Forces Hospital in the period between November 1998 and July 2002, is conducted.

Results: The age of living donors ranged between 21 and 41 years, and there were 22 women and 15 men.

Pediatric living-related liver transplantation in Saudi Arabia.

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to report our experience of the first 29 consecutive living-related liver transplants in pediatric recipients and to demonstrate the feasibility of living-related liver transplantation in the Arab World. The first living-related liver transplantation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was performed in November 1998 by Bassas et al following an appropriate period of multi-disciplinary preparation.

Methods: This study was carried out at the Armed Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during the period November 1998 through to October 2001.

Living-related liver transplantation for Crigler-Najjar syndrome in Saudi Arabia.

Objective: To analyse the outcome of six children with Crigler-Najjar syndrome type I (CNS-I) and report the first three living-related liver transplants for this syndrome in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.

Settings: To review the medical records of six children suffering from CNS-I, three of whom underwent living-related liver transplantation (LRLT) between 22 November 1998 and January 2001.

Main Results: Living-related liver transplantation was performed in three children with a pre-transplant unconjugated bilirubin level of 362, 381 and 502 micromol/L, respectively, despite daily phototherapy of >or= 12 h.

Innovations in pancreas transplantation.

Pancreas transplantation is currently the curative treatment for type 1 diabetes mellitus. It aims at providing physiological insulin replacement therapy in type 1 diabetes mellitus. The goal is thereby also to prevent secondary complications of diabetes.

Living-related liver transplantation.

We report here, the first pediatric living-related liver transplant in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Our patient is a 2 year old girl with a diagnosis of progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis, causing intractable pruritus and failure to thrive requiring liver transplantation. The child was successfully transplanted using a segment of her mother's liver for living-related liver transplantation.