Orthotopic liver transplantation from a donor with abdominal situs inversus.

Abstract

The good results reported for liver transplantation have encouraged a much wider application of the procedure, broadening the list of indications and increasing the number of candidates. The shortage of organs for transplantation is a main problem that limits hepatic replacement in the potential recipients. Consequently, the number of contraindications for donor selection has been reduced over the last years. Some factors that were previously thought to preclude successful transplantation have now been relegated to relative contraindications, while others are no longer included. This has frequently led to the use of livers under suboptimal conditions or with anatomical anomalies. This is the case of donors with abdominal situs inversus. In this article, we report an orthotopic liver transplantation using a donor with abdominal situs inversus. Immunosuppressive protocol following surgery was composed of a classic three-drug therapy (cyclosporine, azathioprine, and prednisolone). The modified piggyback technique was performed over the right suprahepatic vein with orthotopic position of the graft. The graft showed good long-term function in the recipient, with a normal hepatic biopsy 5 months after the transplantation. There was no patient readmission or other medical problem after a 2 1/2-year follow-up.