Postoperative Myocardial Injury Does Not Predict Early and 1-Year Mortality After Living Donor Liver Transplantation.

BACKGROUND: Preoperative cardiac troponin-I (cTnI) elevation has been shown to be a predictor of mortality after liver transplantation. Myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery (MINS) has been defined as elevation of serum cardiac troponin levels in the perioperative period that does not fulfill the criteria for myocardial infarction. MINS has been shown to be a prognostic factor for in-hospital and long-term mortality, but there is limited data in patients undergoing living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between MINS and postoperative mortality. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients who had undergone adult LDLT at Florence Nightingale Hospital Liver Transplantation Unit between December 2012 and December 2015 were retrospectively analyzed for 30-day in-hospital and 1-year mortality. Myocardial injury was defined as cTnI level above 0.04 ng/mL. Patients (N = 214) were divided into 2 groups according to postoperative cTnI levels. The following were the exclusion criteria: 1. patients under 18 years old, 2. patients undergoing deceased-donor liver transplantation or dual liver-kidney transplantation, 3. cTnI elevation due to other causes (sepsis, renal failure, pulmonary embolism, myocardial infarction), and 4. patients without postoperative troponin levels. RESULTS: MINS occurred in 123 (57.4%) patients after LDLT. There was no difference between the groups according to age, sex, creatinine levels, presence of ischemic heart disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and tobacco use. The presence of MINS did not predict 30-day and 1-year mortality in the study population. CONCLUSION: Myocardial injury detected by serum cTnI elevation was frequent after LDLT; however, it was not associated with 30-day in-hospital and 1-year mortality.

Anatomical variations of donor portal vein in right lobe living donor liver transplantation: the safe use of variant portal veins.

In right lobe (RL) living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), portal vein (PV) variations are of immense clinical significance. In this study, we describe in detail our PV reconstruction techniques in RL grafts with variant PV anatomy and evaluate the impact of accompanying biliary variations on the recipient outcomes. In a total of 386 RL LDLTs performed between July 2004 and July 2012, the clinical data on 52 (13%) transplants using RL grafts with variant PV anatomy were retrospectively analyzed. Portal vein anatomy was classified as type 2 in 20 patients, type 3 in 24 patients, and type 4 in eight patients. The PV reconstruction techniques utilized included back-wall plasty (n = 21), back-wall plasty with saphenous vein graft interposition (n = 6), saphenous vein graft interposition (n = 5), cryopreserved iliac vein Y-graft interposition (n = 6), and quiltplasty (n = 3). There was no donor mortality. In a median follow-up of 29 months, none of the recipients had vascular complications. Anomalous PV anatomy was associated with a high (54%) incidence of biliary variations; however, these variations did not result in increased biliary complication rate. Overall, the 1- and 3-year patient survival rates of recipients were 91% and 81%, respectively. Vascular and biliary variations in RL grafts render LDLT technically more challenging. By employing appropriate reconstruction techniques, it is possible to successfully use RL grafts with PV variations without endangering recipient and donor safety.

Biliary complications after right lobe living donor liver transplantation: a single-centre experience.

BACKGROUND: Biliary complications that developed after right lobe liver transplantation from living donors were studied in a single centre. METHODS: From 2004 to 2010, 200 consecutive living donor right lobe liver transplantations were performed. The database was evaluated retrospectively. Biliary complications were diagnosed according to clinical, biochemical and radiological tests. The number of biliary ducts in the transplanted graft, the surgical techniques used for anastomosis, biliary strictures and bile leakage rates were analysed. RESULTS: Of a total of 200 grafts, 117 invloved a single bile duct, 77 had two bile ducts and in six grafts there were three bile ducts. In 166 transplants, the anastomosis was performed as a single duct to duct, in 21 transplants double duct to ducts, in one transplant, three duct to ducts and in 12 transplants as a Roux-en-Y reconstruction. In all, 40 bile leakages (20%) and 17 biliary strictures (8.5%) were observed in 49 patients resulting in a total of 57 biliary complications (28.5%). Seventeen patients were re-operated (12 as a result of bile leakages and five owing to biliary strictures). CONCLUSION: Identification of more than one biliary orifice in the graft resulted in an increase in the complication rates. In grafts containing multiple orifices, performing multiple duct-to-duct (DD) or Roux-en-Y anastomoses led to a lower number of complications.