Feasibility assessment for tailoring preservation of segment VIII hepatic vein during left liver graft procurement

Procurement of left lobe (LL) graft occasionally induces large-sized hepatic venous congestion (HVC) at the remnant right liver. Isolated preservation of segment VIII vein (V8) could reduce this HVC, but it has been applied to only a small number of living donor operations to date.

We investigated the indication of tailoring V8 preservation through the anatomical analyses and computer simulation in a large-volume donor pool. After setting up its surgical technique in 3 donor cases, we analyzed the liver anatomy of 147 LL graft donors.

We regarded the first anatomical condition as direct convergence of a large V8 branch on middle hepatic vein root, by which 27 livers were selected. The second was absence of complex hepatic vein branching at the graft cutting line, and 4 livers were excluded. The third was relatively large-sized HVC more than 35% of right lobe volume, and 11 livers were additionally excluded. Finally, 12 (8.2%) of 147 were left after 3-step selection processes. V8 preservation was estimated to reduce the total amount of HVC by 40%.

We think that tailoring V8 preservation seems to be indicated for 8.2% of LL graft donor livers according to the 3 anatomical conditions.