Live donor assessment

The living donor assessment process starts by a potential donor contacting the transplant co-ordinator responsible for the Live Donor Liver Transplant Program.

The potential donor will be asked some simple medical screening questions and will need to be able to confirm their blood group or arrange with the co-ordinator to have this done.

• The liver donor will need to have a compatible blood group to the recipient.
• The living liver donor assessment usually takes place over a three week period of time.

The donor will require an extensive assessment to ensure that they are in good physical and psychological health, with no medical or anaesthetic contraindications to undergoing a partial hepatectomy.

We are looking for a donor with normal liver function and anatomy in order for surgery to take place.

All potential donors have an initial meeting with a Consultant Transplant or Donor Surgeon, Physician and Transplant Co-ordinator to discuss the advantages, disadvantages and various stages of the process.

Donors must be 18 years to 60 years.

The transplant co-ordinator will organise dates and timing for much of the assessment, these can be done as an outpatient but we do have a patient hotel for potential donors to stay in if they are travelling some distance.

This process can be terminated at any stage by the donor assessment team if the donor is found to have a complication with their health screening or the donor who also has the option to cancel the process, for whatever reason, at any stage in the assessment.