Reconstructive surgery for ischemic-type lesions at the bile duct bifurcation after liver transplantation

Surgical anatomy of segmental liver transplantation

BACKGROUND

The emergence of split and living donor liver transplantation has necessitated re-evaluation of liver anatomy in greater depth and from a different perspective than before. Early attempts at split liver transplantation were met with significant numbers of vascular and biliary complications. Technical innovations in this field have evolved largely by recognizing anatomical anomalies and variations at operation, and devising novel ways of dealing with them. This has led to increasing acceptance of these procedures and decreased morbidity and mortality rates, similar to those observed with whole liver transplantation.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The following review is based on clinical experience of more than 180 split and living related liver transplantations in adults and children, performed over a 7-year period from 1994 to 2001.

CONCLUSION

A comprehensive understanding and application of surgical anatomy of the liver is essential to improve and maintain the excellent results of segmental liver transplantation.

Duct-to-duct biliary reconstruction in living donor liver transplantation utilizing right lobe graft

OBJECTIVE

To assess the feasibility and safety of duct-to-duct biliary anastomosis for living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) utilizing the right lobe.

SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA

Biliary tract complications remain one of the most serious problems after liver transplantation. Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy has been a standard procedure for biliary reconstruction in LDLT with a partial hepatic graft. However, end-to-end choledochocholedochostomy is the technique of choice for biliary reconstruction and yields a more physiologic bilioenteric continuity than can be achieved with Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy. The authors performed right lobe LDLT with end-to-end duct-to-duct biliary anastomosis, and this study assessed retrospectively the relation between the manner of reconstruction and complications.

METHODS

Between July 1999 and December 2000, 51 patients (11-67 years of age) underwent 52 right lobe LDLTs with duct-to-duct biliary reconstruction and remained alive more than 1 month after their transplantation. Interrupted biliary anastomosis was performed for 24 transplants and the continuous procedure was used for 28. A biliary tube was inserted downward into the common bile ducts through the recipient's cystic duct in 16 transplants (cystic drainage), or a biliary stent tube was pushed upward into the anastomosis through the cystic duct in four transplants (cystic stent), or upward into the anastomosis through the wall of the common bile duct in 31 transplants (external stent).

RESULTS

Biliary anastomotic procedures consisted of 34 single end-to-end anastomoses, 11 double end-to-end anastomoses, and 7 single anastomoses for double hepatic ducts. Overall, 5 patients developed leakage (9.6%) and 12 patients suffered stricture (23.0%). For biliary anastomosis with interrupted suture, the incidence of stricture was significantly higher in the cystic drainage group (53.3%, 8/15) than in the stent group consisting of cystic stent and external stent (0%, 0/8). While the respective incidences of leakage and stricture were 20% and 53.3% for intermittent suture with a cystic drainage tube (n = 15), they were 7.7% and 15.4% for a continuous suture with an external stent (n = 26). There was a significant difference in the incidence of stricture.

CONCLUSIONS

Duct-to-duct reconstruction with continuous suture combined with an external stent represents a useful technique for LDLT utilizing the right lobe, but biliary complications remain significant.

Detection of biliary complications after orthotopic liver transplantation with MR cholangiography

To assess the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance cholangiography (MRC) when evaluating biliary complications in the follow-up of liver transplant patients. One hundred and thirteen patients prospectively underwent MR imaging and MR cholangiography at 1.5-T unit after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). After the acquisition of axial T1- and T2-weighted sequences, MRC involved a coronal, non breath-hold, respiratory-triggered, fat-suppressed, two-dimensional, thin-slab, heavily T2-weighted fast spin-echo sequence, and coronal breath-hold, thick-slab, single-shot T2-weighted sequences. The images and maximum intensity projections were evaluated by two readers in order to determine biliary anatomy and the presence of complications, whose final diagnosis was based on endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) in 50 patients, percutaneous trans-hepatic cholangiography (PTC) in five, and by integrating clinical follow-up with ultrasound and MR findings in 58 cases. MRC had a sensitivity of 93%, a specificity of 92%, a positive predictive value of 86%, a negative predictive value of 96%, and a global diagnostic accuracy of 93% in detecting all types of biliary complications in OLT patients. MRC is a reliable technique for detecting post-OLT biliary complications. We now restrict the use of ERC to patients for whom therapeutic procedures are advocated or whose MRC results are equivocal.

Type of donor aortic preservation solution and not cold ischemia time is a major determinant of biliary strictures after liver transplantation

The development of biliary strictures (BSs) after liver transplantation (LT) continues to affect 10% to 30% of patients, causing substantial morbidity. The cause of BSs is multifactorial, including technical, immune, and, in particular, ischemic factors. The importance of adequate flushing of the peribiliary arterial tree has been stressed. We hypothesized that high-viscosity (HV) preservation solutions in the donor do not completely flush the small donor peribiliary plexus, leading to inadequate preservation of the bile ducts and posttransplant BSs. To test this hypothesis, we retrospectively compared the incidence of BSs in 2 groups of adults undergoing LT using different types of aortic preservation solution in the donor: group 1 (n = 24), low-viscosity (LV) Marshall solution; and group 2 (n = 27), HV University of Wisconsin (UW) solution. All donors in both groups received additional portal flushes with UW. All LTs were performed between November 1995 and August 1998 at 2 centers by the same surgeon, eliminating a technical bias. Terminal duct-to-duct anastomosis was performed in all recipients except 1 patient in group 1, who underwent a bile duct-to-jejunum anastomosis. BSs were first suspected on clinical and biochemical grounds and then confirmed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Identical medical protocols were used in all patients. One-year patient survival rates in groups 1 and 2 were 92% and 100%, respectively (P =.9). One-year graft survival was identical to patient survival. The incidence of BSs in group 1 was 4.1% (1 of 24 patients), compared to 29.7% in group 2 (8 of 27 patients; P =.02). The BS in group 1 occurred 4 months post-LT and was anastomotic. BSs in group 2 occurred between 1 and 12 months post-LT and were anastomotic, extrahepatic, intrahepatic, or combined intrahepatic and extrahepatic. There were no significant differences in the following factors between groups 1 and 2: donor age, local versus imported liver, split-liver or full-liver transplantation, incidence of multiple vessels in the donor liver, indications for LT, recipient age, T-tube versus no T-tube, post-LT peak aspartate aminotransferase level, and treatment for rejection. There was no hepatic artery thrombosis or primary nonfunction in either group. Interestingly, cold ischemia time (CIT) was longer in group 1, which had the least incidence of BSs (692 +/- 190 v 535 +/- 129 minutes in group 2; P =.001). Follow-up was longer in group 1 (28.9 +/- 8.3 v 15.6 +/- 8 months in group 2; P =.0001). Preservation costs per procurement were 1.9 times greater in the UW group than in the Marshall group. Donor aortic flushing with an HV preservation solution leads to more frequent BSs compared with an LV preservation solution. The impact of preservation solution outweighs the previously described deleterious impact of prolonged CIT. Mixed preservation solution (Marshall solution in the aorta, UW solution in the portal vein) might protect against BS formation while providing optimal liver graft preservation, function, and survival despite a mean CIT longer than 10 hours.

Fatores de risco e conduta nas complicações do trato biliar no transplante hepático

A reconstrução biliar é um dos pontos vulneráveis do transplante hepático apresentando incidência de complicações biliares, variando de 10 a 35%, nos diversos estudos da literatura. Esse trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar a experiência do nosso serviço em relação à incidência e ao manejo das complicações biliares no transplante de fígado. Foram incluídos no estudo 147 transplantes hepáticos ortotópicos, com idade média de 37,3 anos, correspondendo a 88 procedimentos em pacientes do sexo masculino e 59 do sexo feminino. Complicações biliares ocorreram em 27 transplantes (18,36%) em 25 pacientes (dois retransplantes). A presença de rejeição celular e de complicações vasculares foi identificada como fator de risco para as complicações biliares. A idade, o sexo, a etiologia da cirrose e a técnica utilizada na reconstrução biliar não foram fatores de risco. No total, foram empregados 52 cursos terapêuticos: tratamento cirúrgico em 23 vezes; tratamento endoscópico em 15 vezes; retransplante em sete vezes; drenagem biliar transparieto-hepática em seis vezes e um paciente está em lista de espera para retransplante. Conclui-se deste estudo que as complicações biliares são freqüentes após o transplante hepático e que as vasculares e a rejeição celular são fatores de risco.