title: Correlation between drainage area volume of middle hepatic vein and liver function.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Complete outflow is impossible to maintain on both sides in donors undergoing hemi-liver graft harvesting, because the middle hepatic vein (MHV) can be preserved on only one side. The area in which outflow veins are disrupted becomes congested, and does not sufficiently regenerate.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects of the study were 55 living donors who provided the left liver with caudate lobe, including the MHV. The midpoint between the tributaries of the MHV and the right hepatic vein was determined preoperatively with computed tomography. The midpoint between the tributaries of the MHV and right hepatic vein and the borderline between the right and left liver were used to predict the MHV drainage area volume. Total bilirubin levels, the prothrombin time international normalization ratio, and alanine aminotransferase were measured in donors on postoperative days 1, 3, 5 and 7.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The parameters that correlated with the MHV drainage area volume included total bilirubin on days 5 and 7, prothrombin time international normalization ratio on day 3, and alanine aminotransferase on day 7.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Middle hepatic vein drainage area volume, calculated using the present method, correlated with early liver function after left liver harvesting with the MHV.
authors.affiliation: Artificial Organ and Transplantation Division, Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Junichi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Yasuhiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sugawara
authors.forename: Yuuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsui
authors.forename: Nobuhisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Akamatsu
authors.forename: Yoji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kishi
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Makuuchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006503:Hepatic Veins / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply*; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008115:Liver Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008866:Microsurgery; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed