title: Infection rates with and without T-tube splintage of common bile duct anastomosis in liver transplantation.
abstract: Stenting the bile duct over a T-tube after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is the preferred method of biliary reconstruction. However, because of complications associated with the use of the T-tube, we evaluated the effect of various biliary anastomoses following 100 consecutive OLT (83 records were available for long-term evaluation) and assessed the clinical outcome of abandoning routine T-tube splintage. Of 16 OLT recipients with T-tube splintage (one died immediately following OLT and was excluded from the study), 6 patients (40%) developed six episodes of septicaemia secondary to biliary and/or intra-abdominal sepsis. Four of these six patients had a biliary leak (27%). Of 57 patients with duct-to-duct anastomosis without T-tube splintage, 7 patients developed biliary leak (12.3%) and only 1 developed septicaemia (1.7%) secondary to biliary and intra-abdominal sepsis (P = 0.0002). Of 11 patients with either a gallbladder conduit or Roux loop, only 1 patient had a biliary leak (9%) and there were no septicaemic episodes. In conclusion, direct duct-to-duct anastomosis resulted in significantly less morbidity due to infection without T-tube splintage than the use of a T-tube following OLT, but there were no significant differences in leakage and stricture rates.
authors.affiliation: Hepatobiliary and Liver Transplantation Unit, Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ben-Ari
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Neville
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rolles
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Burroughs
mesh_terms: D000713:Anastomosis, Roux-en-Y / Q000009:adverse effects; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002768:Choledochostomy / Q000009:adverse effects; D003135:Common Bile Duct / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015607:Stents / Q000009:adverse effects; D016896:Treatment Outcome