title: Doubly-armed short sutures are useful for microsurgical hepatic artery reconstruction in living-related liver transplantation.
abstract: Although microsurgical hepatic artery reconstruction has become the essential technique in pediatric and living-related liver transplantation, it remains a technical challenge. We describe here our microsurgical hepatic artery reconstruction technique in living-related liver transplantation using a doubly-armed short suture. From August 1998 to March 1999, 8 patients underwent living-related liver transplantation at the Kyushu University. For these 8 patients, microsurgical reconstruction with doubly-armed short sutures were undertaken. After preparing the operative field for microsurgery, operative microscopy with a continuous zoom magnification is introduced. Interrupted sutures using doubly-armed short sutures are performed in a biangular stay-sutured method with a double clip. None of the 8 patients developed hepatic artery thrombosis. We conclude that the use of doubly-armed sutures allows safe and reliable in microsurgical hepatic artery reconstruction in living related liver transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery II, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. tikegami@surg2.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ikegami
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishizaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uchiyama
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yanaga
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugimachi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013536:Suture Techniques