Life-Threatening Portal Flow Steal Reappearing Under Increased Intrahepatic Vascular Resistance After Living Donor Liver Transplantation

Abstract

Maintenance of adequate portal inflow is crucial for graft regeneration in adult living donor liver transplantation (ALDLT) to allow the recipients to meet their early metabolic demands. A persistent large spontaneous portosystemic shunt can divert portal flow away from the liver graft, leading to impaired or delayed graft regeneration and subsequent graft failure. The importance of obliterating huge portosystemic shunt during liver transplantation is obvious for successful ALDLT. However, in partial liver graft with a relatively small graft-to-recipient weight ratio (GRWR) (compared with deceased donor whole graft liver transplantation), even the persisting small portosystemic shunt may result in repeated portal flow steal when a liver graft faces increased intrahepatic vascular resistance caused by rejection or graft congestion with hepatic venous outflow stenosis. We present 2 complicated cases of reappearing portal flow steal that were derived from the remaining small portosystemic shunt under the increased vascular resistance of the liver graft, even after interruption of a large portosystemic shunt during ALDLT. Because ALDLT is always a partial liver graft, even when GRWR is over 1%, it is much more vulnerable to hemodynamic changes in portal flow by rejection or graft congestion by hepatic venous outflow obstruction. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of complex portosystemic shunt and complete reinterruption of reappearing portosystemic shunt, even though small and insignificant, during ALDLT is important for graft salvage procedures before irreversible liver graft damage.