Preliminary experience for reducing biliary complication in adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation using right lobe graft

Aim: To report the author's preliminary experience with adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) using right lobe liver grafts. Methods: From January 2002 to July 2006, 50 adult patients underwent LDLT using right lobe grafts at West China Hospital, Sichuan University Medical School, China. At present, 24 recipients have been followed up for over nine months. Results: There were no deaths amongst the donors. Biliary reconstruction for 35 hepatic duct orifices from 24 donor grafts was performed, which included 19 reconstructions of duct-to-duct anastomoses and 16 cholangio-jejunostomy. Two recipients had biliary complications including one bile leakage and one slight biliary stricture. Conclusion: With the improved methods for biliary reconstruction, we achieved good results in 24 recipients of adult-to-adult LDLT. We consider that microsurgical technique and fixed operator could decrease the biliary complications of LDLT.