O-7 CURRENT PRACTICE OF LIVER TRANSPLANTATION IN LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES: AN ALEH INTEREST GROUP SURVEY 2023

Introduction and Objectives

Little is known about current practice of liver transplantation (LT) in Latin American countries (LATAM). This study aimed to describe LT activity, immunosuppression protocols and policies regarding prophylaxis of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and hepatitis B virus (HBV) recurrence in different active LATAM centers.

Materials and Methods

A web-based survey with 20 questions regarding LT practice was sent to all members of ALEH LT SIG in December 2022.

Results

22 centers performing 35 [5-160] LT per year from Brazil (n=5), Argentina (n=4), Chile (n=4), Ecuador (n-2), Mexico (n=2), Colombia (n=1), Costa Rica (n=1), Peru (n=1), Dominican Republic (n=1) and Uruguay (n=1) answered the survey. Tacrolimus, mycophenolate and prednisone was the main immunosuppressive regimen employed by most (72%) centers and 81% of them referred basiliximab use for induction therapy in selected patients. Tailoring of immunosuppression was universally accepted, particularly in autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) (59%), hepatocellular carcinoma (54%) kidney dysfunction (77%) and primary biliary cirrhosis (33%). Weaning of corticosteroids at three, six and 12 months after LT was reported, respectively, by 41%, 36% and 23% of the centers, but policy for lifelong corticosteroid use in AIH-transplanted subjects was commonly observed (90%). Just four centers are currently performing protocol liver biopsies, while 18 of them are considering liver biopsy prior to steroid pulse therapy. HBIG and nucleos(t)ide analogs are used in most instances (73%) for HBV recurrence prevention, whereas CMV infection prophylaxis was shown to vary sharply across centers. Of note, all but two of them referred major changes in LT practice over the years due to economical restraints.

Conclusions

Compliance with standard of care recommendations for management of LT was reported by most centers. Heterogeneity in practices regarding HBV infection recurrence and CMV prophylaxis may reflect local financial restraints and point to the importance of developing ALEH guidelines to encourage LT activity in LATAM.