Temporary Portocaval Shunt by Piggyback Cava in Liver Re-Transplantation: Report of a Case

Re-transplantation operation is a technically difficult procedure because of many adhesions; it has higher morbidity and mortality. In this article a maneuver facilitating liver re-transplantation is described. 27-year old male with hepatic artery thrombosis three months after the deceased liver transplantation admitted to our clinic for re-transplantation. Related living right lobe liver transplantation was planned. During recipient’s hepatectomy, the hepatic hilum was transected first, but retroperitoneal dissection and identification of the patient’s vena cava was very difficult. Prolonged operative time and risk of mesenteric venous hypertension after the clamping of portal vein required an application of temporary porto-caval bypass. For this shunt the portal vein of recipient and lower end of cadaveric liver vena cava (“piggyback vena cava”) were used. Vena cava of patient was not clamped during the bypass application, so blood flow in patient’s inferior vena cava was not deteriorated. The liver was removed with both caval veins (cadaveric liver vein and recipient’s own vein) remained in patient’s body. Living donor graft was connected to the piggyback vena cava. Temporary shunt was divided and portal vein anastomosed to the graft portal vein. Arterial anastomosis was performed with recipient’s gastroepiploic artery and the biliary reconstruction fashioned by Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy. So, piggyback vena cava can be used successfully and safely for temporary porto-caval shunt during the liver re-transplantation.