LIVER TRANSPLANTATION IN CHILDREN: THE EXPERIENCE OF AN ITALIAN CENTRE

Key words: Liver transplantation, Biliary tree atresia, Tacrolimus

The Authors report their experience on liver transplantation in children at the Pediatric Liver Transplantation Program, Ospedali Riuniti of Bergamo. Over a five year period 156 transplantations have been performed in 141 children (15 children required retransplantation). Most interventions have been performed by the “split in situ” technique. The main indication (62% of all cases) was biliary tree atresia. The median age was 1,5 years. The average waiting time to surgery was less than one month. Vascular complications occurred in 14 cases; biliary complications in 25 cases. Since tacrolimus has been used for immunosuppression, the likelihood of acute rejection has been lowered to less than 20%. Free yearsurvival its over 85%.