Living Donor Liver Transplant (LDLT)

A Living Donor Liver Transplant (LDLT) is a life-saving surgical procedure where a portion of a healthy liver from a living person is surgically removed and transplanted into a recipient suffering from end-stage liver disease or acute liver failure.

Because the human liver possesses a unique ability to regenerate, both the donor’s remaining liver portion and the transplanted segment in the recipient grow back to near-normal size within 6 to 8 weeks

Why Choose Living Donor Liver Transplant?

  • Eliminates Long Wait Times: Unlike deceased donor transplants, LDLT allows the surgery to be scheduled electively before the patient’s liver disease reaches a critical or life-threatening stage.
  • Higher Success Rates: Surgeries performed on an elective basis with thoroughly screened, healthy living donors yield significantly higher long-term survival outcomes.
  • Optimal Organ Health: The liver segment is transplanted immediately after removal, minimizing the cold ischemia time (time the organ spends without blood supply).

Who Can Be a Living Liver Donor?

Donor safety is the absolute top priority in living donation. A potential donor must meet the following medical and ethical criteria:

  • Age: Between 18 and 55 years old.
  • Relationship: Must be a close family member or emotionally related individual (as per legal guidelines).
  • Compatibility: Compatible blood group with the recipient.
  • Health Status: Excellent physical and mental health, with no history of chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, severe hypertension, liver disease, or active infections.
  • Voluntary Consent: The decision to donate must be completely voluntary, without any financial coercion or pressure.

The Evaluation Process

Before proceeding to surgery, both donor and recipient undergo comprehensive multi-stage clinical evaluations.

  1. Donor Evaluation
  • Phase I (Blood Tests & Matching): Blood group compatibility, liver function tests, viral screen, and routine biochemistry.
  • Phase II (Imaging & Anatomic Mapping): High-resolution CT angiography and MRCP to evaluate liver volume, blood vessel structure, and bile duct anatomy.
  • Phase III (Specialist Clearance): Consultations with cardiology, pulmonology, psychology, and an independent ethics committee clearance.
  1. Recipient Evaluation

Complete cardiac, renal, pulmonary, and oncological evaluation to ensure the recipient can safely undergo major transplant surgery.

The Surgical Procedure

The procedure is performed simultaneously in adjacent operating rooms by specialized surgical teams led by Dr. Giriraj Singh Bora.

  1. Donor Surgery (Hepatectomy): The surgeon precisely removes approximately 50% to 60% of the donor’s liver (usually the right lobe for adult recipients or the left lobe/left lateral segment for pediatric recipients).
  2. Recipient Surgery (Hepatectomy & Implantation): The recipient’s diseased liver is completely removed. The healthy donor liver segment is implanted, meticulously connecting the blood vessels (hepatic artery, portal vein, hepatic veins) and bile ducts under micro-surgical precision.

Recovery and Regeneration

  • For the Donor:
    • Hospital Stay: 6 to 8 days.
    • Liver Regeneration: The donor’s liver regenerates to nearly 70% at 3 months and 99% at one year.
    • Return to Normal Life: Donors can resume light office work within 3–4 weeks and full physical activity after 8–12 weeks.
  • For the Recipient:
    • Hospital Stay: 2 to 3 weeks (including 5–7 days in the Specialized Liver Transplant ICU).
    • Post-Operative Care: Long-term follow-up and lifelong immunosuppressive medications to prevent organ rejection.

Why Consult Dr. Giriraj Singh Bora?

  • Decades of Specialized Expertise: Extensive experience in complex living donor liver transplants, pediatric liver transplants, and complex hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) surgeries.
  • Exceptional Donor Safety Record: Protocols designed around strict international standards ensuring near-zero donor risk.
  • Advanced Microsurgical Techniques: Utilizing high-precision surgical instruments, intraoperative ultrasound, and specialized vascular reconstruction techniques.
  • Comprehensive Care: End-to-end compassionate patient management from initial evaluation through post-transplant recovery.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Does liver donation affect the donor's long-term health?

No. Once fully recovered and regenerated, living donors lead completely normal, healthy lives with normal liver function, no long-term medication requirements, and no impact on life expectancy.

Under experienced surgical care, the success rate for living donor liver transplantation exceeds 90-95%, with excellent long-term survival rates for recipients.

Recipients must take immunosuppressant medications daily for life to prevent their immune system from rejecting the new liver graft. Dosage is reduced over time under close medical supervision.