title: A routine liver transplantation in a patient with situs inversus: a case report and an overview of the literature.
abstract: Liver transplantation (LT) in an adult with situs inversus (SI) is extremely rare and requires precise pre-operative management. A 48-yr-old male with SI suffering from alcoholic liver cirrhosis underwent LT at our institution in March 2003. Pre-operatively, liver anatomy was determined by CT scan, three-dimensional liver reconstruction and angiography. LT was performed using the Belghiti technique with side-to-side cavo-caval anastomosis, transplanting a graft from a donor with normal anatomy. Post-operatively, the patient recovered without major complications, except an epileptic event because of a central pontine myelinolysis, and he was discharged on the 25th post-operative day. Three months after surgery, the T-drain placed intra-operatively into the donor bile duct was removed; transplant perfusion and function were stable with an actual follow-up period of 24 months. LT in patients with SI is feasible. Pre-operative imaging with three-dimensional reconstruction is a beneficial tool for operation planning in patients with rare anatomic variations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Moritz N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Wente
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thorn
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Radeleff
authors.forename: Genevieve
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dei-Anane
authors.forename: Arianeb
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehrabi
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sauer
authors.forename: Markus W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Büchler
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Kraus
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schemmer
mesh_terms: D006498:Hepatectomy / Q000379:methods; D006501:Hepatic Encephalopathy / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008104:Liver Cirrhosis, Alcoholic / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012857:Situs Inversus / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome