Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder after adult-to-adult living donor liver transplant: case series and review of literature

Abstract

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is a serious complication of solid organ transplant. Although living donor liver transplant (LDLT) has been increasingly performed, PTLD after LDLT has not been well investigated. We aimed to determine the clinical characteristics of PTLD after LDLT. We investigated 323 consecutive patients undergoing adult-to-adult LDLT and identified three patients who developed biopsy-proven PTLD. All of them were seropositive for Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and had hepatitis C virus-related cirrhosis at transplant. All three patients developed late-onset and monomorphic PTLD, including one diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and two Burkitt lymphomas with c-myc rearrangement. Two of them were EBV negative. The initial therapy included chemotherapy, rituximab, and immunosuppression withdrawal. One patient died of sepsis during treatment and two patients achieved complete responses. We showed a relatively low incidence and distinct clinicopathological features of PTLD after adult-to-adult LDLT, which might reflect the unique nature of LDLT.

Keywords:

• Epstein–Barr virus
• hepatitis C virus
• living donor liver transplant
• post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.