A novel microsurgical reconstruction technique in a living-related liver donor hepatic artery dissection using the native hepatic artery

Abstract

Hepatic artery intimal dissection is a rare complication that has potentially catastrophic results that may result in the inability to utilize the graft. The literature has demonstrated that post-operative hepatic artery dissections have been identified in one study in up to 2.5% of liver transplants post-operatively (Agrawal et al). Hepatic artery dissection can result in intraluminal thrombus formation, thus occluding the vessel and rendering the transplanted organ nonfunctional. Sometimes the graft may be salvaged utilizing deceased donor vessels but the vessel caliber mismatch or complexity of the reconstruction could result in graft loss.Recent studies have published the results of improved outcomes when transplant surgeons and plastic microvascular surgeons collaborate in challenging reconstructive situations. Fewer early biliary complications were observed when a microsurgeon