Octogenarian donors in liver transplantation grant an equivalent perioperative course to ideal young donors

Background Use of grafts from very old donors for liver transplantation is controversial. Aim To compare the perioperative course of patients receiving liver grafts from young ideal vs octogenarian donors. Methods Analysis of the perioperative course of patients receiving liver grafts from young, ideal (18–39 years) vs octogenarian (≥80 years) deceased donors between 2001 and 2014. Results 346 patients were studied: 179 (51.7%) received grafts aged 18–39 years whereas 167 (48.3%) received a graft from a donor aged ≥80 years. Intra-operative cardiovascular (p = 0.2), coagulopathy (p = 0.5) and respiratory (p = 1.0) complications and incidence of reperfusion syndrome (p = 0.3) were similar. Patients receiving a young graft required more fresh frozen plasma units (p ≤ 0.03) but did not differ for the need of packed red cells (p = 0.2) and platelet (p = 0.3) transfusions. Median ICU stay was identical (p = 0.4). Patients receiving octogenarian vs young grafts did not differ in terms of death or re-transplant (p = 1.0) during the ICU stay. Similar cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, infectious and neurological postoperative complication rates were observed in the two groups. Conclusions Octogenarian donors in liver transplantation grant an equivalent perioperative course to ideal young donors.