Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been recognized as an effective therapeutic method for end-stage liver disease in Japan. However, meticulous planning is needed to start a transplant program. We herein describe the first case of LDLT in Juntendo University Hospital. To start the transplant program, a comprehensive treatment manual for LDLT was written and adopted in our hospital. Then, based on this manual, numerous staff meetings were held in each unit, including nursing staff, operation theater personnel, the division of clinical laboratory, and others. The first recipient was a 1-year-old girl with biliary atresia. She had a history of Kasai procedure at 101 days after birth. Both preoperative imaging and blood biochemistry examinations showed liver failure due to liver cirrhosis. She underwent LDLT and received a left lateral segmental graft obtained from her mother. The operation time was 16h and intraoperative blood loss was 203
g. Their postoperative courses were uneventful and the recipient was discharged 50 days after transplantation.
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