Two Decades of Liver Transplants for Primary Biliary Cholangitis: A Comparative Study of Living Donors vs. Deceased Donor Liver Transplantations

Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) prompts liver transplantation (LT) due to cholestasis, cirrhosis, and liver failure. Despite lower MELD scores, recent studies highlight higher PBC waitlist mortality, intensifying the need for alternative transplantation strategies. Living donor liver transplant (LDLT) has emerged as a solution to the organ shortage. This study compares LDLT and deceased donor liver transplant (DDLT) outcomes in PBC patients via retrospective analysis of the UNOS database (2002-2021). Patient survival, graft failure, and predictors were evaluated through Kaplan-Meier and Cox-proportional analyses. Among 3482 DDLTs and 468 LDLTs, LDLT showed superior patient survival (92.3%, 89.1%, 87.6%, 85.0%, 77.2% vs. 91.5%, 88.3%, 86.3%, 82.2%, 71.0%; respectively; p = 0.02) with no significant graft survival difference at 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, and 10-years post-LT (91.0%, 88.0%, 85.7%, 83.0%, 75.4% vs. 90.5%, 87.4%, 85.3%, 81.3%, 70.0%; respectively; p = 0.06). Compared to DCD, LDLT showed superior patient and graft survival (p < 0.05). Younger male PBC recipients with a high BMI, diabetes, and dialysis history were associated with mortality and graft failure (p < 0.05). Our study showed that LDLT had superior patient survival to DDLT. Predictors of poor post-LT outcomes require further validation studies.