title: Appropriate donor size for porcine liver xenotransplant.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Owing to an imbalance between demand and supply, which is more prominent in pediatric transplant, every year more patients lose their lives on waiting lists. In addition to the use of deceased-donor split and living-donor organs, xenotransplant could provide a solution if associated problems, such as immunologic and physiologic ones, are solved. This study sought to analyze the surgical aspects for liver xenotransplant in a porcine model.
  
  
  METHODS
  Landrace pigs (n=22, 23 to 37 kg) underwent a laparotomy under general anesthesia. The hepatic hilum was prepared and the common bile ducts, common hepatic artery, portal vein, supra- and infrahepatic inferior vena cava were identified. The length and diameter of each vessel and bile duct and the weight of the liver were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pearson tests showed a clear correlation between the increase of the pigs' weight and the livers' weight, and the length of the vessels and the bile ducts. We did not find a clear correlation between the increase of the pigs' liver weight and the diameters of the vessels and the bile duct.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As the first reporting, this study on xenotransplants from the surgical point of view, we postulate that it could be possible to estimate the size of the liver and the proper length of its vessels and bile duct by weighing only the pigs. It was not feasible to match the diameter of mentioned structures by the livers' weight. However, the weight of pig's liver as well as vascular anatomy of pigs appeared to be suitable alternative for the human liver.
authors.affiliation: Department of General, Visceral and Transplant Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soleimani
authors.forename: Hamidreza
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fonouni
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Esmaeilzadeh
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kashfi
authors.forename: Seyed Hashem
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Fani Yazdi
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Golriz
authors.forename: Mohammadreza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hafezi
authors.forename: Nuh N
authors.initials: NN
authors.lastname: Rahbari
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: Arianeb
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehrabi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049628:Body Size; D003135:Common Bile Duct / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery; D006085:Graft Survival; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D009929:Organ Size; D011169:Portal Vein / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery; D034421:Sus scrofa; D014019:Tissue Donors; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery