title: Development of a New Technique for Reconstruction of Hepatic Artery during Liver Transplantation in Sprague-Dawley Rat.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sleeve anastomosis is the most common technique used to rearterialize orthotopic liver transplants (OLT). However, this technique has a number of disadvantages, including difficulty of performance of the technique visually unaided. We herein describe a novel rearterialized OLT model in the rat.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-six male Sprague Dawley rats (300-400 g) were used as donors and recipients. Based on Kamada's cuff technique, the new model involved performing a modified "sleeve" anastomosis between the celiac trunk of the donor and common hepatic artery of the recipient to reconstruct blood flow to the hepatic artery. An additional ten male Sprague Dawley rats underwent liver transplantation without artery reconstruction. Liver grafts were retrieved from the two groups and histological examination was performed following surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total mean operating times were ~42 minutes for the donor liver extraction and 57 minutes for the recipient transplantation. Graft preparation took an additional 15 minutes and the time to fix the arterial bracket was ~3 minutes. During transplantation, the anhepatic phase lasted 18 ± 2.5 min and the artery reconstruction only required ~3 minutes. The patency rate was 94.44% and the 4-week survival rate was 90%. Histology indicated obvious fibrosis in the liver grafts without artery reconstruction, while normal histology was observed in the arterialized graft.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This new method allows for the surgical procedure to be performed visually unaided with good survival and patency rates and represents an alternative model investigating OLT in rats.
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Immunopathology, Department of pathology; Collaborative and Creative Center, and Center of Translation Medicine, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, China.|Department of General Surgery, Second affiliated Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Xingmu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Second affiliated Hospital, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Immunopathology, Department of pathology; Collaborative and Creative Center, and Center of Translation Medicine, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Immunopathology, Department of pathology; Collaborative and Creative Center, and Center of Translation Medicine, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000601:surgery*; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D023421:Models, Animal; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D015996:Survival Rate; D013536:Suture Techniques; D014654:Vascular Patency / Q000502:physiology; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*