Microsurgical replacement of the right hepatic artery with the donor superior mesenteric artery in cadaveric donor pediatric liver transplantation.

PURPOSE: To present our experience of using the pediatric donor superior mesenteric artery (SMA) as the interpositioning vessel to reconstruct the hepatic artery in pediatric deceased donor liver transplantation.

METHODS: Pediatric patients who received pediatric deceased donor livers from December 2019 to June 2021 were enrolled.

RESULTS: A total of 43 pediatric recipients received pediatric deceased donor livers during the study period. Thirty-four (79.1%) pediatric donors had normal hepatic artery anatomy, while nine (20.9%) showed variant anatomies. The SMAs of the pediatric donors were interposed in the latter eight cases. The anastomosis between the donor distal SMA and the donor celiac trunk artery (CTA) was initially performed in the back-table period, after which the other anastomosis between the donor proximal SMA and recipient CHA was performed. Only one case showed HAT occurrence (incidence rate, 2.3%). However, no arterial complications occurred in pediatric recipients with donor grafts that showed the variation of RHA replacement from the SMA and had undergone usage of the donor's SMA as an interpositioning vessel.

CONCLUSIONS: In pediatric deceased donor liver transplantation, the use of SMA as an interpositioning medium can solve the problems related to a tiny caliber and anatomical variations of the donor hepatic artery.