Impact of short hepatic vein reconstruction in living donor adult liver transplantation using a left liver plus caudate lobe graft.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the impact of short hepatic vein reconstruction in the transplanted left liver plus caudate lobe graft.


METHODS
Six left liver plus caudate lobe grafts used for living donor adult liver transplantation were included in this study. The liver grafts were divided into two groups: those with (V1 group; n = 4) or without (control group; n = 2) short hepatic vein reconstruction. The changes in the transplanted left lobe (segments II-IV) and caudate lobe were compared between the two groups at 1 month after transplantation.


RESULTS
The addition of the caudate lobe increased the graft volume by 15 mL, which corresponded to a 4.3% gain of graft volume at the time of transplantation. Although the graft volume/standard liver volume ratio of the whole grafts after transplantation showed no difference between the two groups, the regeneration rate of the caudate lobe in the V1 group was significantly greater than that in the control group (p= 0.04).


CONCLUSIONS
Although no definite advantage from the V1 reconstruction was demonstrated, hepatic vein reconstruction with a significantly-sized short hepatic vein might provide an additional margin of safety for marginally-sized liver grafts during the early phase of graft regeneration.
Mikami
Koji
K
Department of Surgery, Fukuoka University Chikushi Hospital, Fukuoka, Japan.
Matsuoka
Nobuhide
N
Maekawa
Takafumi
T
Yamauchi
Yasushi
Y
Noritomi
Tomoaki
T
Hoshino
Seiishiro
S
Shinohara
Tetsuo
T
Takahashi
Yoshiaki
Y
Noda
Naotaka
N
Yamashita
Yuichi
Y
D000328:Adult; D006503:Hepatic Veins / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D019520:Living Donors