Background: Large-for-size (LFS) graft should be avoided when performing an adult deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) as it is associated with abdominal compartment syndrome, severe graft injury, and primary graft nonfunction. When inadvertently facing with LFS graft intraoperatively, the most commonly reported approach has been a surgical reduction of the right lobe despite its technical difficulty in addition to ongoing coagulopathy after graft reperfusion. We report a case where we performed a left lateral sectionectomy instead of a right lobe modification.
Case report: A 44-year-old 58.4 kg female patient was admitted with drug-induced acute hepatic failure and underwent an emergency DDLT. The donor was a 51-year-old 60.0 kg man. At the time of procurement, the liver was noted to be hypertrophic. The estimated graft/recipient weight ratio was 3.49%. After completing the vascular and bile duct anastomosis, the abdomen could not be closed due to its large graft size. Because of the hypertrophic left lateral lobe and ongoing coagulopathy, we decided to perform an in situ left lateral sectionectomy rather than right posterior sectionectomy or right hemihepatectomy. The next day, the liver function failed to improve, and the patient's blood pressure began to decline gradually. Computed tomography showed severe inferior vena cava (IVC) compression by the graft, and the patient underwent transjugular IVC stent placement. Soon after, the patient's blood pressure improved and liver function gradually normalized. The patient was discharged uneventfully on postoperative day 45.
Conclusion: Under specific conditions, in situ left lateral sectionectomy is a solution for unexpected LFS graft during DDLT.
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