Graft regeneration and host liver atrophy after auxiliary heterotopic liver transplantation for chronic liver failure.

We studied the size of the liver graft and the host liver in six consecutive patients undergoing auxiliary heterotopic liver transplantation for chronic end-stage liver disease. In all cases, a liver reduced in size by left lateral hepatectomy was inserted. The sizes of the graft and host liver were estimated by planimetry of two-dimensional di-isopropyl iminodiacetic acid scintigrams taken 3, 7, 21, 90 and 180 days after surgery. Graft size increased from a mean of 12.2 cm2 (95% confidence interval = 10.2 to 14.1) on day 3 to a maximum of 14.8 cm2 (95% confidence interval = 13.4 to 16.1) on day 21 and remained stable thereafter; in contrast, the host liver decreased in size from 9.6 cm2 (95% confidence interval = 6.8 to 12.3) on day 3 to 3.9 cm2 (95% confidence interval = 3.0 to 4.8) at mo 6. We conclude that in patients with chronic liver failure, an auxiliary allograft reduced in size and placed adjacent to the host liver shows regenerative growth within 3 wk, whereas the host liver atrophies in 3 to 6 mo.