Heterotopic Auxiliary Liver Transplantation in Rats

Auxiliary liver transplantation in acute liver failure in the rat - an illustrated description of a new surgical approach

“…In a modification of the technique of Kort et al [8], who used the infrahepatic vena cava first as the efferent vessel in heterotopic rat liver transplantation, Hess presented the following technique: a 70% hepatectomized donor liver is implanted into the right side of the abdomen after a right nephrectomy. The graft is revascularized with portal blood by an end-to-end portal anastomosis (the portal blood supply is diverted from the recipient liver to the graft).…”

A systematic review of auxiliary liver transplantation of small-for-size grafts in patients with chronic liver disease

“…The poor reputation of HALT is mainly due to the implantation of the graft at a distance from the right atrium, where the inferior vena cava pressure is slightly higher than that for the APOLT, potentially impairing the graft venous drainage. However, conflicting results have been reported in experimental and clinical models 39,57,58 and, rather than the inferior vena cava J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f pressure per se, the pressure gradient between the efferent portal tributary pressure which can be modulated and the inferior vena cava pressure seems to play a primordial role.…”

The Need to Handicap the Recipient′s Native Liverin the Rat Model of Heterotopic Auxiliary LiverTransplantation

“…The investigators have used this model to study amongst others, liver regeneration, hepatotrophic factors, allogenic microchimerism and graft rejection [5,7,8]. Several technique modifications of this model have been introduced [9][10][11][12]. Although the observation of graft atrophy and the concept of "inter-liver competition" in HALTx were reported in the early 60's [13][14][15], opinion still varies on whether in this rat model the native liver of the recipient should be handicapped and in this case which approach should be used.…”

“…Although the observation of graft atrophy and the concept of "inter-liver competition" in HALTx were reported in the early 60's [13][14][15], opinion still varies on whether in this rat model the native liver of the recipient should be handicapped and in this case which approach should be used. Some authors handicapped the native liver either with a 68% partial hepatectomy (68% PH) [7,10] or a 68% PH plus a common bile duct ligation (CBDL) [9,11]. Others, on the contrary, left the native liver intact [5,8,12].…”