A Retrospective Study of Long-Term Outcomes In 16 ABO-Incompatible Deceased Donor Pediatric Liver Transplants from a National Transplant Center at Helsinki University Hospital, Finland, 1987-2022

BACKGROUND The use of ABO-incompatible liver transplants (ABO-ILTs) from deceased donors has become more common due to the shortage of available donor livers and increased transplant waiting times. This retrospective study from a national transplant center at Helsinki University Hospital, Finland, aimed to assess the long-term outcomes of ABO-incompatible deceased donor pediatric liver transplants between 1987 and 2022. MATERIAL AND METHODS Sixteen (9.5%) of the 169 pediatric liver transplantations were ABO-ILTs. The median age at transplantation was 5.0 (0.5-15.4) years. Reasons for ABO-ILTs were acute liver failure (18.75%), malignancy (12.5%), small body size and long waiting time (25%), and other reasons (43.75%). The median post-transplant follow-up time was 147 (0.72-353) months. Patient and graft survival and occurrence of surgical complications were compared to ABO-identical transplants, and anti-ABO antibody titers were analyzed. RESULTS The 1-, 3-, and 5-year patient survivals were comparable between the ABO-I and ABO-compatible groups, being 81.3%, 73.9%, and 73.9% (ABO-I) and 87.5%, 82.5%, 77.9% (ABO-compatible), respectively. Three patients with ABO-ILTs died of sepsis and multiorgan failure during the first 3 months after transplantation. The occurrence of biliary complications and early vascular thrombosis (<30 days after transplantation) did not differ significantly between recipients with an ABO-ILT vs ABO-compatible liver graft. CONCLUSIONS The findings from this study support findings from previous studies that outcomes after ABO-incompatible liver transplants in children were comparable to outcomes from ABO-identical liver transplants.