Reply

Abstract

We appreciate the interest of Sugawara et al in our report and agree that reconstruction of the short hepatic veins may be preferable in living donor liver transplantation using a left lobe graft containing the caudate lobe. The importance of venous drainage in regeneration of the corresponding part of the partial liver graft was first reported by Cheng et al. 1 Cheng YF Chen CL Haung TL Lee TY Chen TY Chen YS et al. Post-transplant changes of segments 4 after living related liver transplantation. Clin Transplant. 1998; 12: 476-481 PubMed Google Scholar They reported that segment 4 of the extended lateral lobe graft will result in atrophy unless the graft has a branch of the left hepatic vein, which drains segment 4. 1 Cheng YF Chen CL Haung TL Lee TY Chen TY Chen YS et al. Post-transplant changes of segments 4 after living related liver transplantation. Clin Transplant. 1998; 12: 476-481 PubMed Google Scholar Left lobe transplantation with the caudate lobe was first reported by Miyagawa et al. 2 Miyagawa S Hashikura Y Miwa S Ikegami T Urata K Terada M et al. Concomitant caudate lobe resection as an option for donor hepatectomy in adult living related liver transplantation. Transplantation. 1998; 66: 661-663 Crossref PubMed Scopus (112) Google Scholar The interesting point in their report was that the transplanted caudate lobe without reconstruction of the short hepatic vein was almost uncongested.