Surgery Publications
Technique to Minimize the Incidence of Hepatic Artery Thrombosis in Pediatric Liver Transplantation
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1993
Journal
Annales de Chirurgie
Volume
47
Issue
9
First Page
816
Last Page
820
Abstract
Hepatic artery thrombosis is a life-threatening complication after pediatric liver transplantation. We reviewed our experience in 62 children who received 72 liver transplant (69 whole grafts and 3 reduced-size grafts) between January 1984 and December 1991. They ranged in age from 6 months to 16 years (mean 5.8 years). Fifteen children (22%) were under 2 years and 10 patients (14%) were between 2 and 5 years. Forty-eight grafts in older children (age: 1-16 years, x = 7 years had an anastomosis between the donor hepatic/celiac artery and the recipient hepatic of splenic artery (A-A). Three thromboses occurred in this group for an incidence of 6.2%. Two others types of arterial reconstruction were used in 24 children who were significantly younger (6-120 months, x = 47 months, p < 0.01). Eight grafts had an anastomosis between the donor celiac artery and the recipient aorta (A-Ao). No thromboses occurred in this group. Sixteen grafts were revascularized using a donor aortic conduit anastomosed to the recipient aorta (AC) with a 12.5% (2 to 16) incidence of thrombosis. The incidence of arterial thrombosis for the entire group was 6.9%. In conclusion, by using the recipient aorta for arterial reconstruction, a low incidence of hepatic artery thrombosis can be achieved even in the group of younger patients who are the highest risk for this complication.
Notes
This article was published in French. It is not available online here. If you are affiliated with The University of Western Ontario, please use the Shared Library Catalogue's Classic Search to check whether the journal in which this article was published is available in Western Libraries.
If you are not affiliated with The University of Western Ontario, search WorldCat to find out where you can get access to the journal.
Dr. Vivian McAlister is currently a faculty member at The University of Western Ontario.