The risk factors of splenic arterial steal syndrome after orthotopic liver transplantation / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To discuss the risk factors of splenic arterial steal syndrome (SASS) after orthotopic liver transplantation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-four cases who confirmed SASS after liver transplantation in Tianjin First Central Hospital between June 2005 and June 2013 were analyzed retrospectively. Another 96 cases were selected randomly from those patients of the same time with no complication of SASS patients postoperatively as control group. Clinical data of two groups including diameter of splenic artery and hepatic artery preoperatively, weight of graft, weight of recipients, cold/warm ischemia time, an hepatic period and operation time and so on were collected. Others including hepatic artery peak systolic velocity (PSV), end diastolic velocity (EDV), blood flow resistance index and portal vein average velocity (PVF) on the first day after liver transplantation, the day before diagnosis, the day when diagnosed, the 1, 3, 7 days after treatment in SASS group and on 1, 3, 7, 9, 11, 14 days after liver transplantation in control group. Statistical analysis were made between two groups.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The splenic artery/hepatic artery ratio preoperatively and weight of donor liver,and the GRWR in SASS group and control group were 1.26 and 1.00, 1 032 g and 1 075 g, (1.40±0.30)% and (1.82±0.21)% respectively, with significantly statistical differences (Z=-6.40, Z=-2.22, t=-6.50; all P<0.05). The warm ischemia time, the cold ischemia time, the anhepatic period and operation time in SASS group and control group were 3.5 minutes and 4.0 minutes, 10.25 hours and 10.10 hours, 43 minutes and 45 minutes, 8.7 hours and 8.7 hours, with no significantly statistical differences (all P>0.05). RI of hepatic went up gradually in the early time after transplantation while dropped obviously when spleen artery spring coils embolization was received (P<0.01) and trended to stable two weeks later.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Splenic artery/hepatic artery ratio and GRWR are the positive and negative risk factors respectively for SASS. The gradual rising of hepatic RI in the early time after transplantation may be the warning signal SASS and spleen artery spring coils embolization is the effective strategy for SASS after liver transplantation.</p>

The clonal origin of diffuse hepatocellular carcinoma / 天津医药

Objective To determine the tumor clonal origin of diffuse hepatocellular carcinoma (D-HCC) and clinical outcome after liver transplantation. Methods Fourteen D-HCC patients who underwent liver transplantation in the Tianjin First Central Hospital between August 2004 to November 2012 were evaluated retrospectively. Their clinical characteristics and data of disease-free survival postoperatively were gathered. Twelve loss of heterozygosity sites (LOH) on high frequency microsatellite were selected. The tumor clonal origin of D-HCC was assessed by the means of PCR-SSCP. Results Of 14 D-HCC patients, intrahepatic metastasis (IM) occurred in 11 cases (11/14), and IM with multicentric occurrence (MO) occurred in 3 cases (3/14). The disease-free survival time was 4.5 to 37.4 months, and the median time was 8.7 months. Conclusion The most frequent tumor clonal origin of D-HCC was IM. Liver transplantation may be the effective treatment for D-HCC.

Establishing rat model of associating liver partition with portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Objective To establish a rat model of associating liver partition with portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) and evaluate the liver function after surgery.Methods Fifty male SD rats were randomly divided into two groups: experimental group (ALPPS group) and control group (PVL group).Selective portal vein ligation in PVL group was performed on the caudal lobe, left lateral and left median lobes, while the right lobe, the right median lobe was preserved to regenerate.ALLPS group was treated in the same way as PVL group, but also underwent liver partition in situ.After surgery, 5 rats were sacrificed on day 1, 3,7, 10 and 14 in each group to observe the weight of body and the right median lobe,respectively.The venous blood and liver tissue were obtained for testing alanine aminotransferase (ALT),aspartate aminotransferase (AST), serum albumin (ALB), total bilirubin (TBil) and observing the histological changes in liver injury after surgery.Results After surgery, the body weight decreased progressively, but then increased in both groups.Since the first day after surgery, the body weight began to decrease,reached the lowest value on 3 d, and then on day 7 the body weight in PVL group returned to preoperative levels.However, the body weight was still lower than that before surgery [(3.7 ± 2.7) ％ vs (-3.0 ± 1.9)％, P＜0.05].On day 3, 7, 10 and 14, the hepatic regeneration rate (HRR) of the fight median lobe in ALPPS group was obviously higher than that in PVL group (P ＜ 0.05).On day 1, the serum ALT and AST levels in two groups were elevated dramatically and then gradually decreased, which in ALPPS group were significantly higher than those in PVL group (P ＜ 0.05).There were no significant differences at other time points.On day 1 and 3, the serum ALB in ALPPS group was obviously lower than that in PVL group [(25.4±1.7)g/Lvs (31.4±1.5)g/L, P＜0.05;(25.0±2.0)g/Lvs (31.8±1.5)g/L, P＜ 0.05], respectively.More focal necrosis of liver were observed in ALPPS group on day 1, which were more than those in PVL group.Conclusions This method could successfully establish a ALPPS rat model and proved that ALPPS could induce accelerated hepatic regeneration and more severe early hepatocyte injury compared with PVL.This ALPPS experimental model provides a basis for further research on ALPPS, especially for clarifying the mechanisms of liver regeneration and tumor recurrence, and exploring the reasons for various ALPPS related complications, which play a significant role in its clinical application.