Vascular reconstruction for intraoperative major vascular injuries.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to find an effective and precise surgical procedure to cope with the major vascular injuries that might be encountered during hepato-biliary and pancreatic surgery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Among the 220 cases of hepato-biliary and pancreatic surgery from 1991 to 1995 in our department, 8 patients who sustained 13 different instances of vascular injury were reviewed retrospectively.

RESULTS

Five injuries occurred in the portal vein (PV), 4 in the hepatic artery (HA), and 2 in the inferior vena cava (IVC). The repair procedures consisted of 2 direct closures, 2 resections of the injured sites followed by the end to end anastomosis, 2 autologous venous grafts and 1 artificial vascular graft implantation, and 2 diversions of the arterial bloodflow of the middle colic artery and the gastroepiploic artery to the injured HA. The reconstructed vessels showed postoperative obstructions in 2 cases, in which artificial vascular graft implantation and direct closure were used for the reconstruction.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the above findings, the use of an artificial graft and a direct closure all contributed to the early postoperative obstruction of the reconstructed vessels. However, a diversion of the arterial bloodflow to the injured hepatic arteries was found to maintain a good postoperative patency in these cases.