The marginal liver donor--an update

The number of patients awaiting liver transplantation keeps steadily rising with no corresponding rise in suitable grafts for transplantation. There also is an increasing trend of patients dying or being taken off waiting lists because of deterioration while waiting for a transplant. Over the preceding years the use of marginal grafts in liver transplantation has been driven by the critical shortage of donor organs and by emerging data that their use has resulted in a favourable outcome. This review revisits the factors defining marginality of a graft, and the issues faced by transplant units in making the decision to use such a graft. It also looks at the innovations in transplantation geared towards increasing the donor pool and the resulting issues of matching marginal grafts to suitable recipients.