Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma using grafts from uncontrolled circulatory death donation.

Controversy exists regarding whether the rate of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) differs when using livers from donation after controlled circulatory death (DCD) versus livers from donation after brain death (DBD). The aim of this cohort study was to analyze rates of HCC recurrence, patient survival, and graft survival after OLT for HCC, comparing recipients of DBD livers (n = 103) with recipients of uncontrolled DCD livers (uDCD; n = 41). No significant differences in tumor size, tumor number, serum alpha-fetoprotein, proportion of patients within Milan criteria, or pre-OLT bridging therapies were identified between groups, although the waitlist period was significantly shorter in the uDCD group (p = 0.