Innovative techniques for and results of portal vein reconstruction in living-related liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Portal vein reconstruction is a crucial factor affecting the outcome of a successful living-related liver transplantation. We describe here our experience with portal vein reconstruction in 314 cases of living-related liver transplantation with use of novel surgical modalities to enable the transplant surgeons to deal with any size mismatch between the donor's and recipient's portal veins. METHODS: Portal vein reconstruction was classified into 2 major groups, anastomosis without and with a vein graft. When there was no stenosis of the recipient portal vein and the diameter was the same, the portal trunk was used for anastomosis. When the diameter mismatch was minimal, branch patch anastomosis was feasible. When the recipient portal vein was significantly stenotic and the portal vein of the graft was long enough, we removed the stenotic trunk and constructed an anastomosis between the graft portal vein and the confluence of the recipient portal vein. When the graft portal vein was short, a vein graft was interposed. The vein patch technique was preferable when the diameter of the graft vein was not large enough for the interposition technique. RESULTS: Anastomosis without vein graft included trunk anastomosis (n = 156), branch patch anastomosis (n = 39), and confluence anastomosis (n = 22). Anastomosis with vein graft used the interposition technique (n = 77) and vein patch technique (n = 27). The origin of the grafts was mostly from the maternal left ovarian vein (70%) or the paternal inferior mesenteric vein (27%). Complications related to portal vein reconstruction occurred in 16 (5%) patients: portal vein thrombosis in 8, stenosis in 7, and fatal rupture in 1 patient. The incidence of complications was similar for all techniques except for confluence anastomosis. CONCLUSION: Our innovative techniques should be helpful for overcoming diameter or length mismatches in portal vein reconstruction in pediatric liver transplantation.

Clinical intestinal transplantation: new perspectives and immunologic considerations.

BACKGROUND: Although tacrolimus-based immunosuppression has made intestinal transplantation feasible, the risk of the requisite chronic high-dose treatment has inhibited the widespread use of these procedures. We have examined our 1990-1997 experience to determine whether immunomodulatory strategies to improve outlook could be added to drug treatment. STUDY DESIGN: Ninety-eight consecutive patients (59 children, 39 adults) with a panoply of indications received 104 allografts under tacrolimus-based immunosuppression: intestine only (n = 37); liver and intestine (n = 50); or multivisceral (n = 17). Of the last 42 patients, 20 received unmodified adjunct donor bone marrow cells; the other 22 were contemporaneous control patients. RESULTS: With a mean followup of 32 +/- 26 months (range, 1-86 months), 12 recipients (3 intestine only, 9 composite grafts) are alive with good nutrition beyond the 5-year milestone. Forty-seven (48%) of the total group survive bearing grafts that provide full (91%) or partial (9%) nutrition. Actuarial patient survival at 1 and 5 years (72% and 48%, respectively) was similar with isolated intestinal and composite graft recipients, but the loss rate of grafts from rejection was highest with intestine alone. The best results were in patients between 2 and 18 years of age (68% at 5 years). Adjunct bone marrow did not significantly affect the incidence of graft rejection, B-cell lymphoma, or the rate or severity of graft-versus-host disease. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that longterm rehabilitation similar to that with the other kinds of organ allografts is achievable with all three kinds of intestinal transplant procedures, that the morbidity and mortality is still too high for their widespread application, and that the liver is significantly but marginally protective of concomitantly engrafted intestine. Although none of the endpoints were markedly altered by donor leukocyte augmentation (and chimerism) with bone marrow, establishment of the safety of this adjunct procedure opens the way to further immune modulation strategies that can be added to the augmentation protocol.