Below I’ve included a few slides and some notes from recent Aspen Webinars; my notes may have errors of omission or transcription.

Key Points:

• The new allocation policy tries to make liver organ allocation more equitable in terms of disease acuity at time of transplantation and access to allografts
• The changes, based on some preliminary data, appear to improve the likelihood of children receiving needed organs. Dr. Bondoc specifically cited the work of Dr. John Bucuvalas in pointing out some of the systemic ways that the previous system disadvantaged children.
  • Infants are at the greatest risk on the wait list.  Yet, successful transplantation in children could be beneficial for many decades
  • PELD underestimates mortality risk
  • 25% of pediatric donors have historically gone to adults

Related blog posts:

• Picking winners and losers with liver transplantation allocation
• Pediatric Liver Transplantation: Past Time to Split
• More on Time to Split (2018)

• Pediatric Livers Bypassing Needy Children
• More Acceptance (of livers), Better Outcomes
• Should Younger Transplant Patients Receive Better Organs? | gutsandgrowth