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Transplant Q&AQuestion: I’ve heard that it’s possible to use ABO incompatible organs for liver transplantation. My child is blood type O. Which blood types will be compatible with his? I am blood type A, will I be able to give him part of my liver?Answer: The only "ABO compatible" donor for a person with blood type O is another type O. ABO compatibility is a very important factor for heart and kidney transplants. Virtually 100% of ABO incompatible kidneys will be rejected within minutes. ABO compatibility is less important for liver grafts, but ABO compatible liver grafts are more likely to work than ABO incompatible grafts. Since we always want to give each patient the best possible chance to survive, we always use ABO compatible liver grafts unless the only available liver is ABO incompatible and the patient is likely to die if they don’t get this liver. Only in the case of a very serious emergency would a liver from a donor with blood type A be used for a type O recipient. Although an ABO compatible graft is always preferred over an ABO
incompatible graft, there are hundreds of people alive today with ABO
incompatible liver grafts. But, to date, I am not aware of any instances
where an ABO incompatible liver transplant has been done from a living
donor.
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Children’s Liver Association for Support Services
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