BACKGROUND: To ensure donor safety in adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation, we established a selection criterion for donors in which left lobe (LL) was the first choice of graft. METHODS: Two hundred six consecutive donors were retrospectively studied. Donors were divided into two groups according to graft type: LL graft (n=137) and right lobe (RL) graft (n=69). RESULTS: Although mean intraoperative blood loss of LL was significantly increased compared with RL, mean peak postoperative total bilirubin levels and duration of hospital stay after surgery were significantly less for LL than RL (P