Conservative Treatment in Two Patients With Spontaneous Hepatic Artery Dissection.

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous dissection of the hepatic artery is a rare finding for which there is no specific treatment algorithm. Even though endovascular treatment and surgery have been used to treat other visceral artery dissections, these approaches can be challenging in the case of hepatic artery dissection because it is difficult to access the hepatic artery. CASE SUMMARY: 2 patients with spontaneous dissection of the hepatic artery were admitted due to epigastric pain. Although the liver function test results were normal, and there were no complications such as bleeding, shock, or ischemia in other organs, a subsequent computed tomography scan directly revealed the spontaneous dissection of the hepatic artery in both patients. The patients were treated with anticoagulants without surgery. Because it is difficult to perform surgery or endovascular treatment on the hepatic artery, we focused on preventing the progression of hepatic artery dissection and the formation of a new thrombus in the dissection. CONCLUSION: Considering the risk of surgical treatment for the hepatic artery and the condition of the patients, medical treatment with anticoagulants may be considered as an initial treatment and provide more benefits than surgical treatment.

Prevention and treatment of hepatic artery dissection in donors and recipients during liver transplantation / 器官移植

Hepatic artery reconstruction is one of the key procedures in liver transplantation. Accidental dissection of the hepatic artery to be reconstructed caused by donor and recipient factors or surgical factors will disrupt the surgical plan, increase the difficulty of arterial reconstruction, significantly prolong the operation time, increase the risk of postoperative arterial stenosis and thrombosis and probably lead to acute allograft failure, which requires emergency surgical interventions or even secondary liver transplantation. Understanding of how to avoid dissection of the artery to be anastomosed during liver transplantation and corresponding treatment will contribute to preventing the incidence of artery-related complications during liver transplantation and improving clinical prognosis of liver transplant recipients. In this article, the causes, prevention and treatment of hepatic artery dissection and hepatic artery reconstruction in donors and recipients during liver transplantation were illustrated.

Case report: Characterization of a rare pathogenic variant associated with loss of COL3A1 expression in vascular Ehlers Danlos syndrome.

The vascular subtype of Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (vEDS) is a rare connective tissue disorder characterized by spontaneous arterial, bowel or organ rupture. The diagnosis of vEDS is established in a proband by identification of a heterozygous pathogenic variant in the alpha-1 gene of type III collagen (COL3A1) by molecular analysis. In this report, we present a case of vEDS with life threatening, spontaneous arterial dissections in association with an uncharacterized rare variant of COL3A1, exon19:c.1340G > A. Primary culture of patient skin fibroblasts followed by immunofluorescence revealed a complete absence of COL3A1 protein expression as well as altered morphology. Electron microscopy of the cultured fibroblasts showed abnormal vacuoles in the cytoplasm suggestive of a secretory defect. In this study, we have performed functional characterization of the COL3A1 exon19:c.1340G > A variant for the first time and this may now be classified as likely pathogenic in vEDS. *Both JM and LRL contributed equally in the manuscript and should both be considered as the first author.

A no-ligation technique to prevent intraoperative hepatic artery dissection in living-donor liver transplantation.

Intrahepatic recipient hepatic artery dissection caused by hepatic artery thrombosis is a lethal complication of living-liver donor liver transplantation (LDLT). We herein report a new surgical technique that avoids the ligation of the recipient hepatic arteries in LDLT. Patients undergoing LDLT between 2009 and 2019 were evaluated. In the second half of this period, a technique involving no ligation of the recipient hepatic artery was initiated and its impact on the incidence of intrahepatic recipient hepatic artery dissection was determined. The middle and left hepatic arteries were ligated in 195 cases (53.4%), and the no-ligation technique was used in 170 (46.6%). The incidence of intraoperative hepatic artery dissection was significantly lower in the no-ligation group (n = 0, 0.0%) than in the ligation group (n = 10, 5.1%) (p = 0.0021). After propensity score matching to evaluate the patient characteristics, the incidence of intraoperative hepatic artery dissection was also significantly lower in the no-ligation group (n = 0, 0.0%) than in the ligation group (n = 6, 4.5%) (p = 0.0295). As a result, this new surgical technique is highly recommended to avoid recipient hepatic artery ligation in LDLT.

Asymptomatic hepatic artery dissection early after living-donor liver transplantation with simultaneous splenectomy: two case reports.

BACKGROUND: Hepatic artery dissection after liver transplantation is an uncommon morbidity. The onset mechanism and management for this disorder remain unclear. The present report describes the cases of two patients with hepatic artery dissection after living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) with simultaneous splenectomy and provides new insight into the onset mechanism of this disorder. CASE PRESENTATION: CASE 1: A 51-year-old man with liver cirrhosis caused by hepatitis B virus underwent LDLT with a right lobe graft and splenectomy simultaneously. The recipient's right hepatic artery had partial dissection at the anastomosis site; therefore, his left hepatic artery was anastomosed. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) on postoperative day (POD) 27 showed dissection from his celiac artery to his left hepatic artery with bleeding in the false lumen. There was a risk of rupture of the false lumen; therefore, emergency interventional radiology and coil embolization of the false lumen were performed. The patient was doing well at 6 months after LDLT. CASE 2: A 58-year-old woman with liver cirrhosis caused by primary biliary cholangitis underwent LDLT with a left lobe graft and splenectomy simultaneously. Her hepatic artery had a dissection that extended from her left hepatic artery to the proper hepatic artery. The gastroduodenal artery was anastomosed. Contrast-enhanced CT on POD 8 revealed dissection from the celiac artery to the common hepatic artery as well as a pseudoaneurysm at the celiac artery. We managed the patient with conservative treatment and performed daily follow-ups with Doppler ultrasonography examination and serial contrast-enhanced CT. At the time of writing this report, the patient was doing well at 34 months after LDLT. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who have an intimal dissection at the anastomosis site and/or simultaneous splenectomy are at a higher risk of hepatic artery dissection. Most patients with asymptomatic hepatic artery dissections can be treated conservatively. Blood flow in the intrahepatic artery should be checked frequently using Doppler ultrasonography or contrast-enhanced CT soon after diagnosis.

The computed tomographic angiography finding of hepatic artery dissection after living donor liver transplantation; what is the clinical significance?

OBJECTIVE: To correlate computed tomography (CT) findings of hepatic artery dissection (HAD) to clinical manifestations of arterial insufficiency and biliary stricture after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). METHODS: Among 737 consecutive patients, we retrospectively reviewed incidence, CT findings, and complications of the HAD. RESULTS: HADs occurred in 43 patients, exclusively in recipient arteries. Most were resolved with recovery of true lumen without specific treatment. Five patients had insignificant hepatic arterial infarctions, and incidence of biliary stricture did not significantly differ with control group. CONCLUSIONS: HADs frequently occurred shortly after LDLT. Most HADs spontaneously improved and did not affect incidence of late biliary stricture.

Clinical features of isolated dissections of abdominal aortic branches.

Isolated dissection of an abdominal aortic branch is a rare entity, and previous reports regarding the condition have been based only on small case-series studies. Using a national inpatient database in Japan, we describe the clinical features of patients with isolated celiac, superior mesenteric, splenic, and hepatic artery dissections (ICAD, ISMAD, ISAD, and IHAD). We extracted data on inpatients who were diagnosed with ICAD, ISMAD, ISAD, or IHAD from the Japanese diagnosis procedure combination database, including patients' age and sex, putative risk factors (smoking status and specific comorbidities), treatments (blood transfusion, transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) and surgical procedures), and outcomes (in-hospital complications and death). Among 18.3 million inpatients in the database between July 2010 and March 2013, we identified 276 ICAD, 715 ISMAD, 23 ISAD and 11 IHAD. The percentage of males was 78-92 %, and the mean age was 54.7-56.8 years. Hypertension was seen in 48-65, and 35-65 % were smokers. Fourteen in-hospital deaths were identified in total. In the ICAD group, splenectomy was performed in one patient and TAE was performed in 26 patients. In the ISMAD group, 16 patients received surgical intervention. Most patients with isolated dissection of an abdominal aortic branch were treated conservatively, while a small percentage required TAE or open surgery. A small proportion of dissections resulted in death.