Incidental detection of a large atrial septal defect in liver donor: Addressing the unknown!

Liver donation is an altruistic act wherein donor safety takes paramount importance. Donor selection is done after a meticulous evaluation to rule out any perioperative health risk. It is not unusual to find uncorrected congenital heart disease (CHD) in adults as a part of this detailed examination. This case reports a 34-year-old male liver transplant donor, with no known comorbidities, who was incidentally detected with a large atrial septal defect (ASD). We report the successful management of this case after ASD closure with the various therapeutic options available to us. The need for ASD closure for donor hepatectomy, and the unique preoperative and intraoperative challenges are elaborated in this report as limited literature is available to guide the course of action in this context. A multidisciplinary approach can facilitate safe perioperative management and prevent the exclusion of such donors from the scanty liver donor pool.

Categories: Anesthesiology, Transplantation