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Updated: Jun 11, 2026
Manufacturing Devices and Instruments for Easier Rat Liver Transplantation
Published on: May 5, 2013
Comprehensive and innovative techniques for liver transplantation in rats: a surgical guide
Tomohide Hori1, Justin H Nguyen, Xiangdong Zhao
1Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Birdsall Research Building, Room 323, 4500 San Pablo Road, Jacksonville, Florida, FL 32224, United States. horit@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Aim:
To investigate our learning curves of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in rats and the most important factor for successful surgery.
Methods:
We describe the surgical procedures for our rat OLT model, and determined the operator learning curves. The various factors that contributed to successful surgery were determined. The most important surgical factors were evaluated between successful and unsuccessful surgeries.
Results:
Learning curve data indicated that 50 cases were required for operator training to start a study. Operative time, blood loss, warm ischemic time, anhepatic phase, unstable systemic hemodynamic state, and body temperature after surgery significantly affected surgery success by univariate analysis, while the anhepatic phase was the most critical factor for success by multivariate analysis.
Conclusion:
OLT in rats is the only liver transplantation model that provides clinically relevant and reliable results. Shortened anhepatic phase is key to success in this model.
