Continuous versus interrupted suture for hepatic artery reconstruction using a loupe in living-donor liver transplantation

Background: Partial liver transplantation from live donors is now widely performed to compensate for the shortage of deceased donors' organs. Operative microscopy is often used to achieve hepatic artery anastomosis. Here we report our experience of hepatic artery reconstruction using loupe magnification. Material/Methods: We used operative microscopy (12-16x magnification) in our early experience. We changed to loupe magnification (3.5x) in 43 cases. Reconstructions were done with continuous, end-to-end anastomoses with 8-0 nylon and a 3.5x loupe was used for the arterial anastomosis. Results: The mean follow-up time was 8 months. There were no cases of hepatic artery thrombosis. Conclusions: Hepatic artery reconstruction in living donor liver transplantation with continuous end-to-end suturing using loupe magnification can yield good results.