What are the advantages of live donor liver transplant?
The main advantage is the transplant can be booked for a time that best meets the needs of the recipient and donor. Because cadaver livers are allocated based on medical urgency, recipients often wait until they are the sickest on the list, and are weaker going into surgery. Some patients may develop complications that preclude transplantation or may even die while on the transplant list. As living donors are usually young, healthy adults who have undergone a thorough medical evaluation, there is a high degree of confidence that the donor liver is of good quality. Preservation time (when the liver is without blood) is minimal.