Delayed Construction of the Bilio-Digestive Anastomosis in Right Living Donor Liver Transplantation

We describe a two-step procedure in the transplantation of a right lobe liver graft obtained from a living donor, in which the biliary anastomosis is delayed until the day after the actual implantation of the graft. The purpose of the two-step procedure is to minimize the factors that might contribute to biliary complications in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). Three patients who received a graft with two hepatic ducts underwent Roux-en-Y hepatico-jejunostomies during a separate procedure the day after the implantation of the graft. Length of intubation, recovery of enteral alimentation, and hospital stay were similar to the patients who underwent one-step transplant. No biliary or infectious complications occurred. Delaying the hepatico-jejunostomy when two ducts are present and a bilio-digestive anastomosis is planned has no negative impact on the postoperative course of the patients but can ameliorate the conditions under which the anastomoses must be performed.