The safety of donor in living donor small bowel transplantation--an analysis of four cases.

Intestinal transplantation using living-related donors could potentially reduce the severity of rejection responses against this highly immunogenic organ by better tissue matching and shorter cold ischemia duration, compensating for the shortage of donor grafts. The purpose of this study is to assess the safety of donors receiving living donor small bowel transplantation (LDSBT) in our hospital by reviewing the risk of operations and absorbing capability recovering retrospectively based on the parameters, such as body weight loss, blood loss, blood transfusion, operation time, duration of hospitalization, complications, and d-xylose tolerance test. After a follow-up period (mean 72 months, range: 48-96 months) of four cases of donors performed LDSBT in Xijing Hospital of digestive diseases dated from May 1999 to September 2003, no complication occurred. Therefore, pre-operation angiography, meticulous management of operation and accurate post-operation monitoring were particularly necessary to guarantee the safety of donors.