Preservation of the recipient inferior vena cava in liver transplantation.

Twenty piggy-back (PB) liver transplantations (LT) were compared with 20 LT performed by the standard technique in order to evaluate whether or not the theoretical haemodynamic advantages of the preservation of the inferior vena cava (IVC) have any impact on the final results of the LT. Statistically significant differences were observed in the duration of the hepatectomy, which was longer for PB LT (192 min vs. 146 min), and in the duration of the anhepatic phase, which was shorter in that group (52 min vs. 76 min). There were no differences in the duration of the complete surgical procedure, consumption of blood products, incidence of postoperative acute renal failure, number of reoperations or survival.