Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jul 27, 2020; 12(7): 406-412
Published online Jul 27, 2020. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v12.i7.406
Is right lobe liver graft without main right hepatic vein suitable for living donor liver transplantation?
Khaled Demyati, Sami Akbulut, Egemen Cicek, Abuzer Dirican, Cemalettin Koc, Sezai Yilmaz
Khaled Demyati, Sami Akbulut, Egemen Cicek, Abuzer Dirican, Cemalettin Koc, Sezai Yilmaz, Department of Surgery and Liver Transplant Institute, Inonu University Faculty of Medicine, Malatya 44280, Turkey
Khaled Demyati, An-Najah National University Hospital, An-Najah National University, Nablus 11941, Palestine
Author contributions: Akbulut S, Koc C and Cicek E designed the report; Akbulut S, and Dirican A performed surgical procedures, Cicek E and Akbulut S collected the patient’s clinical data; Akbulut S, Demyati K and Yilmaz S analyzed the data and wrote the paper.
Informed consent statement: The patients involved in this study gave their informed written consent prior to study enrollment, authorizing the use and disclosure of protected health information.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sami Akbulut, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Surgery and Liver Transplant Institute, Inonu University Faculty of Medicine, Elazig Yolu 10. Km, Malatya 44280, Turkey. akbulutsami@gmail.com
Received: March 9, 2020
Peer-review started: March 9, 2020
First decision: April 3, 2020
Revised: May 26, 2020
Accepted: May 28, 2020
Article in press: May 28, 2020
Published online: July 27, 2020
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Since the first living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) was performed by Raia and colleagues in December 1988, LDLT has become the gold standard treatment in countries where cadaveric organ donation is not sufficient. Adequate hepatic venous outflow reconstruction in LDLT is essential to prevent graft congestion and its complications including graft loss. However, this can be complex and technically demanding especially in the presence of complex variations and congenital anomalies in the graft hepatic veins.

CASE SUMMARY

Herein, we aimed to present two cases who underwent successful right lobe LDLT using a right lobe liver graft with rudimentary or congenital absence of the right hepatic vein and describe the utility of a common large opening drainage model in such complex cases.

CONCLUSION

Thanks to this venous reconstruction model, none of the patients developed postoperative complications related to venous drainage. Our experience with venous drainage reconstruction models shows that congenital variations in the hepatic venous structure of living liver donors are not absolute contraindications for LDLT.

Keywords: Living donor liver transplantation, Congenital-absence of right hepatic vein, Common large opening drainage model, Case report

Core tip: In this study, we aimed to present two cases who underwent successful right lobe living donor liver transplantation using a right lobe liver graft with rudimentary or congenital absence of the right hepatic vein and describe the utility of a common large opening drainage model in such complex cases. Thanks to this venous reconstruction model, none of the patients developed postoperative complications related to venous drainage.