Liver retransplantation in children in Poland

An average of 15% of patients require retransplantation due to irreversible liver graft failure due to primary graft nonfunction, chronic rejection, vascular and biliary complications, or infections. The survival of patients and grafts after retransplantation is inferior to that after primary transplantation. The purpose of the present study was to examine the incidence, indications, and outcome of retransplantation in children. In our center 169 liver transplantations had been performed in 154 patients, and 14 patients (9%) required 15 retransplantations: nine in the early postoperative period, five late after primary transplantation, and one late after the second transplantation. One-year patient survival after primary transplantation was 82%, but after early retransplantation it was 55%.