Liver transplantation for neonatal hepatitis as compared to the other two leading indications for liver transplantation in children

Neonatal hepatitis is a syndrome of unknown etiology occurring in children with viral liver disease, as well as children with unidentified disorders of bile salt synthesis and other poorly understood metabolic diseases. It is characterized by jaundice, giant cell hepatitis and rare liver failure necessitating liver transplantation. In the present investigation, the outcome of liver transplantation performed in 16 children with neonatal hepatitis at the investigators' institution was determined from 1 January 1989 to 31 December 1991. The results were compared to those obtained in 288 children transplanted for biliary atresia and 66 children transplanted for recognized metabolic liver disease. The children transplanted for neonatal hepatitis (4.1 +/- 1.3 years) and metabolic liver disease (5.8 +/- 0.6 years) were older than those transplanted for biliary atresia (3.3 +/- 0.2 years) (p < 0.01), but did not differ in terms of sex, ABO type, UNOS status or year in which the transplant procedure was performed. Interestingly, first allograft survival was equal in the children with neonatal hepatitis (74%) and those with metabolic liver disease (74%), but was greater than that for children transplanted for biliary atresia (68%) (p < 0.01). Despite this significant difference in first graft survival, no differences in 5-year survival were seen for the three groups (81% for neonatal hepatitis, 68% for biliary atresia and 79% for metabolic liver disease).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Three years clinical experience with intestinal transplantation

BACKGROUND

After the successful evolution of hepatic transplantation during the last decade, small bowel and multivisceral transplantation remains the sole elusive achievement for the next era of transplant surgeons. Until recently, and for the last thirty years, the results of the sporadic attempts of intestinal transplantation worldwide were discouraging because of unsatisfactory graft and patient survival. The experimental and clinical demonstration of the superior therapeutic efficacy of FK 506, a new immunosuppressive drug, ushered in the current era of small bowel and multivisceral transplantation with initial promising results.

STUDY DESIGN

Forty-three consecutive patients with short bowel syndrome, intestinal insufficiency, or malignant tumors with or without associated liver disease, were given intestinal (n = 15), hepatic and intestinal (n = 21), or multivisceral allografts that contained four or more organs (n = 7). Treatment was with FK 506 based immunosuppression. The ascending and right transverse colon were included with the small intestine in 13 of the 43 grafts, almost evenly distributed between the three groups.

RESULTS

After six to 39 months, 30 of the 43 patients are alive, 29 bearing grafts. The most rapid convalescence and resumption of diet, as well as the highest three month patient survival (100 percent) and graft survival (88 percent) were with the isolated intestinal procedure. However, this advantage was slowly eroded during the first two postoperative years, in part because the isolated intestine was more prone to rejection. By the end of this time, the best survival rate (86 percent) was with the multivisceral procedure. With all three operations, most of the patients were able to resume diet and discontinue parenteral alimentation, and in the best instances, the quality of life approached normal. However, the surveillance and intensity of care required for these patients for the first year, and in most instances thereafter, was very high, being far more than required for patients having transplants of the liver, kidney or heart.

CONCLUSIONS

Although intestinal transplantation has gone through the feasibility phase, strategies will be required to increase its practicality. One possibility is to combine intestinal transplantation with contemporaneous autologous bone marrow transplantation.

Improving results of pediatric renal transplantation

BACKGROUND

Outcome after renal transplantation in children has been variable. We undertook a retrospective study of our experience over the past five years.

STUDY DESIGN

From January 1, 1988, to October 15, 1992, 60 renal transplantations were performed upon 59 children at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Twenty-eight (47 percent) of the kidneys were from cadaveric donors, and 32 (53 percent) were from living donors. The recipients ranged in age from 0.8 to 17.4 years, with a mean of 9.8 +/- 4.8 years. Forty-six (77 percent) recipients were undergoing a first transplant, while 14 (23 percent) received a second or third transplant. Eight (13 percent) of the patients were sensitized, with a panel reactive antibody of more than 40 percent. Eleven of the 14 patients undergoing retransplantation and seven of the eight patients who were sensitized received kidneys from cadaveric donors. Thirty-three (55 percent) patients received cyclosporine-based immunosuppression, and 27 (45 percent) received FK506 as the primary immunosuppressive agent.

RESULTS

The median follow-up period was 36 months, with a range of six to 63 months. The one- and four-year actuarial patient survival rate was 100 and 98 percent. The one- and four-year actuarial graft survival rate was 98 and 83 percent. For living donor recipients, the one- and four-year actuarial patient survival rate was 100 and 100 percent; for cadaveric recipients, it was 100 and 96 percent. Corresponding one- and four-year actuarial graft survival rates were 100 and 95 percent for the living donor recipients and 96 and 69 percent for the cadaveric recipients. Patients on cyclosporine had a one- and four-year patient survival rate of 100 and 97 percent, and patients on FK506 had a one- and three-year patient survival rate of 100 and 100 percent. Corresponding one- and four-year actuarial graft survival rates were 100 and 85 percent in the cyclosporine group, while one- and three-year actuarial graft survival rates were 96 and 84 percent in the FK506 group. The mean serum creatinine level was 1.24 +/- 0.64 mg per dL; the blood urea nitrogen level was 26 +/- 13 mg per dL. The incidence of rejection was 47 percent; 75 percent of the rejections were steroid-responsive. The incidence of cytomegalovirus was 10 percent. The incidence of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder was 8 percent. None of the patients on cyclosporine were able to be taken off prednisone; 56 percent of the patients receiving FK506 were taken off prednisone successfully. Early growth and development data suggest that the patients receiving FK506 off prednisone had significant gains in growth.

CONCLUSIONS

These results support the idea that renal transplantation is a successful therapy for end-stage renal disease in children. They also illustrate the potential benefits of a new immunosuppressive agent, FK506.

A new technique for isolating and culturing human hepatocytes from whole or split livers not used for transplantation

Large numbers of human hepatocytes were obtained from split and whole livers by using an adaptive form of the collagenase perfusion technique employed in rodent and human biopsies. In order to guarantee a homogenous distribution of the perfusate within the whole specimen, major hepatic veins were cannulated with large bore catheters. This technique allowed for the isolation of human hepatocytes on a large scale (up to 18.5 x 10(9) in one case) from normal and diseased liver specimens. The yield of isolated normal viable hepatocytes is inversely proportional to the donor age. In addition, it was noted that a short time between declared death and organ harvest (cross clamp time) results in higher viability of hepatocytes. In contrast, the time of cold organ preservation did not correlate with the viability or the yield of isolated hepatocytes. We conclude that the technique presented here allows isolation of large numbers of human hepatocytes from specimens unsuitable for transplantation but very valuable for biomedical research.

Single-center experience with primary orthotopic liver transplantation with FK 506 immunosuppression

OBJECTIVE

The efficacy for primary orthotopic liver transplantation of a new immunosuppressive agent, FK 506 (tacrolimus, Prograf, Fujisawa USA, Deerfield, IL), was determined.

SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA

After 3 years of preclinical research, a clinical trial of FK 506 for orthotopic liver transplantation was begun in February 1989, first as a rescue therapy for patients with intractable rejection with conventional immunosuppression, then as a primary drug.

METHODS

Between August 1989 and December 1993, 1391 recipients (1188 adult and 203 pediatric) of primary liver allografts were treated with FK 506 from the outset. Results from these patients were analyzed and compared with those of 1212 historical control patients (971 adult and 241 pediatric) given cyclosporine-based immunosuppression.

RESULTS

Actuarial survival at 4 years was 86.2% with FK 506 versus 65.5% with cyclosporine in the pediatric patients (p < 0.0000) and 71.4% versus 65.5% in the adults (p < 0.0005). The need for retransplantation was reduced significantly for FK 506 patients. Four-year graft survival was 77.0% with FK 506 versus 48.4% with cyclosporine in the pediatric patients (p < 0.0000), and 61.9% with FK 506 versus 51.4% with cyclosporine in the adult recipients (p < 0.0000). Regression analysis revealed that reduction in mortality or graft loss from uncontrollable rejection, sepsis, technical failure, and recurrent original liver disease were responsible for the improved results with FK 506 therapy.

CONCLUSIONS

FK 506 is a potent and superior immunosuppressive agent for orthotopic liver transplantation.

Disease gravity and urgency of need as guidelines for liver allocation

One thousand one hundred and twenty-eight candidates for liver transplantation were stratified into five urgency-of-need categories by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) criteria. Most patients of low-risk UNOS 1 status remained alive after 1 yr without transplantation; the mortality while waiting was 3% after a median of 229.5 days. In contrast, only 3% of those entered at the highest risk UNOS 5 category survived without transplantation; 28% died while waiting, the deaths occurring at a median of 5.5 days. The UNOS categories in between showed the expected gradations, in which at each higher level fewer patients remained as candidates throughout the 1-yr duration of study while progressively more died at earlier and earlier times while waiting for an organ. In a separate study of posttransplantation survival during the same time period, the best postoperative results were in the lowest-risk UNOS 1 and 2 patients (88% combined), and the worst results were those in UNOS 5 (71%). However, a relative risk cross-analysis showed that a negative benefit of transplantation may have been the result in terms of 1-yr survival for the low-risk elective patients, but that a gain in life extension was achieved in the potentially lethal UNOS categories 3, 4 and 5 (greatest for UNOS 3). These findings and conclusions are discussed in terms of total care of patients with liver disease, and in the context of organ allocation policies of the United States and Europe.

Rejection of human intestinal allografts: alone or in combination with the liver

The current results of the present series demonstrate that intestinal allografts are more vulnerable to rejection and continue to be at a significantly higher risk long after transplantation compared with isolated liver allograft recipients. Unexpectedly, a combined liver allograft does not protect small bowel from rejection. The necessarily continuous heavy immunosuppression for these unique recipients is potentially self-defeating. This is clearly demonstrated by their high susceptibility to early and late infectious complications after transplantation as reported in this issue. With the minimal graft-versus-host disease threat in this clinical trial, our revised protocol for future intestinal transplantation is to maximize the passenger leukocyte traffic with supplementary bone marrow from the same intestinal donor in an attempt to augment the development of systemic chimerism and the gradual induction of donor-specific nonreactivity.

Intestinal transplantation at the University of Pittsburgh

Our experience with clinical intestinal transplantation under FK 506 immunosuppression showed that 50% of the recipients were able to be independent from TPN after transplantation, but 10% require partial TPN with functioning grafts, 10% needed total TPN after graft removal, and 30% of the recipients died postoperatively, mostly from sepsis due to severe graft rejection. For further improvement in patient survival and in the quality of life for patients after intestinal transplantation, it is mandatory to establish a new strategy for treatment and prevention of graft rejection and systemic infection.

Small intestinal transplantation in humans with or without the colon

Under FK506-based immunosuppression, 16 cadaveric small bowel transplantations were performed in 15 recipients with (n = 5) or without (n = 11) the large bowel. Twelve (80%) patients are alive after 1.5 to 19 months, 11 bearing their grafts, of which 4 include colon. The actuarial one-year patient and graft survivals are 87.5% and 65.9%, respectively. Five grafts were lost to acute (n = 4) or chronic (n = 1) rejection, and 3 of these patients subsequently died after 376, 440, and 776 days total survival. Six recipients developed severe CMV infection that was strongly associated with seronegative status preoperatively and receipt of grafts from CMV positive donors; 3 died, and the other 3 required prolonged hospitalization. Currently, 9 patients are free from TPN 1-18 months postoperatively, 2 require partial TPN, and one has returned to TPN after graft removal. The results show the feasibility of small bowel transplantation but emphasize the difficulty of managing these recipients not only early but long after their operation.

FK506 "rescue" for resistant rejection of renal allografts under primary cyclosporine immunosuppression

Seventy-seven patients with ongoing acute rejection on initial CsA therapy were converted to FK506 to attempt graft salvage. Fifty-nine patients had undergone primary transplantation and 18 had been retransplanted; there were 52 cadaveric and 25 living-donor transplants. The indications for conversion to FK506 were ongoing, biopsy-confirmed rejection in all patients, including vascular rejection in 20. The median interval to rescue was 2 months (range 2 weeks to 36 months) after transplantation. Sixty-one of the 77 patients (79%) had already received one or more courses of an antilymphocyte preparation (OKT3: n = 33; ALG or ATG: n = 1; OKT3+ALG/ATG: n = 27). Of the 77 patients, 57 (74%) have been successfully rescued and still have functioning grafts with a mean follow-up of 14 months, with a mean serum creatinine of 2.35 +/- 0.97 mg/dl. Eighteen patients were already dialysis-dependent at the time of conversion to FK506; of these, 9 (50%) were successfully salvaged and have a mean serum creatinine of 2.3 mg/dl. Of the 61 patients previously treated with antilymphocyte preparations, 48 (79%) were rescued. In those salvaged, prednisone doses have been lowered from 22.2 +/- 7.2 mg/day preconversion to 7.5 +/- 5.6 mg/day postconversion, and 12 patients are on FK506 monotherapy. In nondiabetics, mean serum glucose was 101.4 +/- 20.5 mg/dl preconversion and 93.2 +/- 22 postconversion (P = 0.07), uric acid 7.3 +/- 2.3 and 7.1 +/- 1.5 mg/dl (P = 0.53), and triglycerides 199.2 +/- 101.6 and 167.2 +/- 106.4 mg/dl (P = 0.06). Cholesterol levels were significantly lower following FK conversion (207.7 +/- 46.5 mg/dl pre. vs. 188.3 +/- 39.7 post., P = 0.007). FK506 is capable of salvaging renal allografts with ongoing acute rejection on CsA therapy, even when antilymphocyte preparations have been ineffective.