Living related liver transplantation for an infant with biliary atresia.
OBJECTIVE
To sum up the preliminary experience in living related liver transplantation (LRLT).


METHODS
A 9-month-old male infant with biliary atresia (BA) who had undergone an unsuccessful Kasai operation was defined as a candidate for LRLT. The donor was his 30-year-old mother. Her lateral lobe of the left liver was transplanted into the infant's body as the graft. The left branches of the portal vein, left hepatic artery and left hepatic vein of the graft were end-to-end anastomosed to the portal vein, hepatic artery proper and hepatic vein of the recipient respectively. Biliary drainage was reestablished via Roux-en-Y operation.


RESULTS
The donor retained her liver function within 2 weeks after the operation. Steroid and FK506 were prescribed in immunosuppressive therapy for the recipient. The blood bilirubin level of the infant decreased to normal 2 weeks after operation. No acute rejection occurred. Biliary leakage in the early period after the transplantation was controlled by drainage, and E.coli infection was effectively treated with antibiotics. The donor and recipient are in satisfactory condition to the present.


CONCLUSIONS
LRLT is advisable for children with biliary atresia.
Zheng
Shu-Sen
SS
Department of General Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310003, China. zhengss@mail.hz.zj.cn
Huang
Dong-Sheng
DS
Wang
Wei-Lin
WL
Liang
Ting-Bo
TB
Zhang
Min
M
Shen
Yan
Y
Lu
An-Wei
AW
Liao
Sheng-Yang
SY
Xu
Xiao
X
D000328:Adult; D001646:Bile / Q000378:metabolism; D001656:Biliary Atresia / Q000601:surgery*; D004322:Drainage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D016896:Treatment Outcome