Donor hepatectomy for living related partial liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND

An essential prerequisite for living related partial liver transplantation is to perform donor hepatectomy with minimal risk while preserving graft viability. This article describes a safe method of donor hepatectomy that was used for five patients who underwent living related liver transplantation.

METHODS

Liver parenchymal transection was performed by the selective vascular occlusion technique in four patients, and interruption of the blood supply to the left medial segment was carried out along the right side of the umbilical portion before parenchymal division in the other patient.

RESULTS

These procedures resulted in insignificant intraoperative blood loss, for which no banked blood or blood derivatives were transfused. The postoperative course for each of the five donors was uneventful, and excellent graft viability was verified by the fact that the five recipients showed a good immediate postoperative course without marked increases in the serum activities of liver enzymes.

CONCLUSIONS

We believe that the operative risk of living related donor hepatectomy is minimal if it is performed by experienced liver surgeons with the present procedures.