Intraoperative stent placement in the portal vein during or after liver transplantation

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the intermediate effectiveness of intraoperative portal vein stent placement for portal venous stenosis in liver transplantation. We attempted intraoperative portal vein stent placement in 44 portal venous anastomotic stenoses in 36 patients. All patients underwent stent placement via either the inferior or superior mesenteric vein. A total of 22 patients underwent portal vein stent placement simultaneously with liver transplantation, and 14 patients underwent stent placement 1-25 days (mean 5.93 days) after liver transplantation. Of the 22 patients, there was portal vein occlusion in 3 patients and small portal vein (<6 mm) in 10 patients (2.5-5.7 mm; mean size 3.9 mm). Patient follow-up included clinical and laboratory data collection, Doppler ultrasonography (US), and computed tomography (CT). Intraoperative portal vein stent placement was technically successful in all of our study patients, even in 6 patients with total occlusion of the portal vein. A total of 10 study patients underwent thrombectomy of the portal vein, 1 underwent patient portosystemic shunt ligation, and 7 patients had both procedures simultaneously. Portal venous patency has been maintained for 0-56 months (mean 16 months) in 42 (95%) of the 44 stent placements. In conclusion, intraoperative portal vein stent placement is an effective and long lasting treatment modality for treat portal venous stenosis, especially in patients with portal vein occlusion or small sized portal vein.