Retrospective Cohort Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Transplant. Mar 18, 2024; 14(1): 87752
Published online Mar 18, 2024. doi: 10.5500/wjt.v14.i1.87752
Pediatric and adult liver transplantation in Bahrain: The experiences in a country with no available liver transplant facilities
Hasan M Isa, Fatema A Alkharsi, Jawad K Khamis, Sawsan A Hasan, Zainab A Naser, Zainab N Mohamed, Afaf M Mohamed, Shaikha A Altamimi
Hasan M Isa, Fatema A Alkharsi, Sawsan A Hasan, Zainab A Naser, Zainab N Mohamed, Department of Pediatrics, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Manama 26671, Bahrain
Hasan M Isa, Department of Pediatrics, Arabian Gulf University, Manama 26671, Bahrain
Jawad K Khamis, Department of Medicine, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Manama 26671, Bahrain
Afaf M Mohamed, Public Health Directorate, Ministry of Health, Manama 26671, Bahrain
Shaikha A Altamimi, The Overseas Office, Supreme Committee for Treatment Abroad, Ministry of Health, Manama 26671, Bahrain
Author contributions: Isa HM was the main contributor in study design, literature review, data analysis, drafting manuscript, and over-sight for all phases of the project and the final approval of the version to be published; Alkharsi FA was responsible for literature review, data collection, data analysis, drafting and revising manuscript; Khamis JK, Hasan SA, and Naser ZA were responsible for literature review, data collection, drafting and revising manuscript; Mohamed ZN was responsible for data collection, drafting and revising manuscript; Mohamed AM and Altamimi SA were responsible for data collection and revising manuscript; All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (revised 2013), and it was ethically approved by the Research and Research Ethics Committee, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Government hospitals, Kingdom of Bahrain (IRB number: 87151122, November 15, 2022).
Informed consent statement: Consent was not needed as the study was retrospective without exposure to the patients’ data.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: Data are available upon reasonable request.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hasan M Isa, MBChB, Associate Professor, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Department of Pediatrics, Salmaniya Medical Complex, Road No. 2904, Al Salmaniya Area, P.O. Box: 12, Manama 26671, Bahrain. halfaraj@hotmail.com
Received: October 7, 2023
Peer-review started: October 7, 2023
First decision: November 17, 2023
Revised: November 29, 2023
Accepted: December 19, 2023
Article in press: December 19, 2023
Published online: March 18, 2024
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Core Tip

Core Tip: The clinical characteristics, management, and outcomes of patients from Bahrain with end-stage liver disease who underwent an overseas liver transplantation (LT) have not been studied previously. In this retrospective cohort study, we found that biliary atresia in children and hepatitis C infection in adults were the main indications. This was comparable to literature from neighboring countries and worldwide. Most patients received living-related grafts. The overall survival rate was 84.4% and was significantly better in younger patients. Therefore, in countries where LT facilities are not available, an overseas LT can offer great hope for this group of patients.