Background: Deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) is increasing in India and now constitutes nearly one-third of all liver transplantation procedures performed in the country. There is currently no uniform national system of allocation of deceased donor livers.
Methods: A national task force consisting of 19 clinicians involved in liver transplantation from across the country was constituted under the aegis of the Liver Transplantation Society of India to develop a consensus document addressing the above issues using a modified Delphi process of consensus development.
Results: The National Liver Allocation Policy consensus document includes 46 statements covering all aspects of DDLT, including minimum listing criteria, listing for acute liver failure, DDLT wait-list management, system of prioritisation based on clinical urgency for adults and children, guidelines for allocation of paediatric organs and allocation priorities for liver grafts recovered from public sector hospitals.
Conclusion: This document is the first step in the setting up of a nationally consistent policy of deceased donor liver allocation.
Keywords: ACLF, acute on chronic liver failure; ALF, acute liver failure; CLD, chronic liver disease; CSS, Clinical Severity Score; CSS-P, Clinical Severity Score for Paediatric Recipients; DD, deceased donation; DDLG, deceased donor liver grafts; DDLT, deceased donor liver transplantation; Delphi process; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; LDLT, living donor liver transplantation; LT, liver transplantation; MELD, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease; N-LAP, National Liver Allocation Policy; NABL, National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibration Laboratories; PELD, Paediatric Model for End-Stage Liver Disease; PuSH, Public Sector Hospital; WL, waiting list; acute liver failure; paediatric; public sector hospital; variant syndrome.
© 2022 Indian National Association for Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.