Size Matching Deceased Donor Livers: The Tampa General Measurement System

Background. No reliable or standardized system exists for measuring the size of deceased donor livers to determine whether they will fit appropriately into intended recipients. Methods. This retrospective, single-center study evaluated the efficacy of Tampa General Hospital's size-matching protocol for consecutive, deceased donor liver transplantations between October 2021 and November 2022. Our protocol uses cross-sectional imaging at the time of organ offer to compare the donor's right hepatic lobe size with the recipient's right hepatic fossa. Outcomes were analyzed, including large-for-size syndrome, small-for-size syndrome, early allograft dysfunction, primary nonfunction, graft survival, and patient survival. Results. We included 171 patients in the study. The donor liver physically fit in all the patients except one whose pretransplant imaging was outdated. One patient (0.6%) had large-for-size syndrome, none had small-for-size syndrome, 15 (10%) had early allograft dysfunction, and none had primary nonfunction. There were 11 (7%) patient deaths and 11 (7%) graft failures. Conclusion. Our measurement system is fast and effective. It reliably predicts whether the donor liver will fit in the intended recipient and is associated with low rates of early allograft dysfunction.