Middle hepatic vein reconstruction of graft for a patient with intrahepatic portosystemic shunt

Middle hepatic vein reconstructions for modified right liver grafts in living donor liver transplantation provide satisfactory results. We report a patient who had undergone transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt before living donor liver transplantation, in which the middle hepatic vein was reconstructed using a preserved great saphenous vein. A 41-year-old Japanese man with a 5-year history of alcoholic liver cirrhosis and esophageal varices was admitted to our hospital for living donor liver transplantation. He had undergone endoscopic variceal ligations and transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt for esophageal variceal bleeding, and ascites. He had living donor liver transplantation, which was performed using his sister's right lobe without the middle hepatic vein. The recipient's estimated standard liver volume calculated by abdominal computer-assisted tomography was 1166mL. The exact weight of the donor's right lobe was 507g, which was equivalent to 44% of the recipient's standard liver volume. At bench surgery, the middle hepatic vein was reconstructed using a preserved great saphenous vein, which was cut in 2 strips to make a thicker tube graft by suturing, and subsequently, the newly made tube graft end was anastomosed to V5 and V8 branches of the graft. The metallic stent for transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt buried in the recipient's right hepatic vein was removed with the right hepatic vein. The other end of the saphenous tube graft was anastomosed to the right anterior aspect of the vena cava. Stumps of the middle and left hepatic veins were oversewn. Postoperative blood flow in the graft and the reconstructed hepatic veins has been satisfactory with normal liver functions.