Role of Histopathologist in Liver Transplantation

Abstract

A successful liver transplantation team consists of several specialists to work closely together. The histopathologist (anatomical pathologist) is one of the key players in this multidisciplinary team. This role starts with the pre-transplantation evaluation of the recipient’s liver by diagnosis or confirming the underlying liver disease and continues with the evaluation of the explanted recipient’s liver for any further information about the underlying liver disease including malignancies such as hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, or any other incidental findings. The evaluation of the new donor liver begins with determining the suitability of the donor liver for transplantation during or before the operation and continues throughout the entire posttransplantation period by evaluating not only the allograft diseases but also evaluating other tissues for infections, malignancies, etc. It is worthy to note that in many of the above-mentioned situations, histopathology is the gold-standard diagnostic test. In this review, we present on various tasks of a histopathologist according to the current literature and our own experience in the largest liver transplantation center in Iran.