Successful Living Donor Liver Transplantation for Polycystic Liver in a Patient With Autosomal-dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease

Abstract

Orthotopic liver transplantation has been recommended for patients with disabling polycystic liver disease (PCLD). Because of the shortage of cadaveric donors, living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been developed as an alternative. We describe the case of a woman with PCLD as an extrarenal manifestation of autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) who was successfully palliated by LDLT. The patient was a 48-year-old woman with abdominal distention. Computed tomography showed a massively enlarged liver containing innumerable cysts, as well as bilateral kidney cysts. Hepatic and renal functions were well preserved. Genetic analysis of the family did not exclude linkage to the PKD1 locus. Two and a half years after the first examination, the patient reported severely disabling symptoms caused by the PCLD. Living donor liver transplantation was performed using a right-lobe graft. The recipient and donor were both well 8 months after the transplantation. The excised liver weighed 7.4 kg, and the histopathology revealed multiple cysts and von Meyenburg complexes in the portal areas.