Pediatric living donor liver transplantation using liver allograft with hemangioma

Although liver transplantation using liver allograft with hemangiomas has been previously reported, little is known about the fate of hemangiomas in the transplanted liver. We herein describe a case of pediatric living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) using living donor liver allograft with a hemangioma which is considered to the first reported case performing in vivo hemangioma resection.

A 27-year-old female was evaluated as a donor for her 2-year-old son with cholestatic cirrhosis due to biliary atresia. Preoperative ultrasonography and computed tomography revealed a 20-mm hemangioma located at lateral side of segment 3. During LDLT, an in vivo partial hepatic resection of the hemangioma of segment 3 was performed without the Pringle maneuver using intraoperative ultrasonography to keep the main portal triad of segment 3 before the donor liver resection, and the left lateral segment graft without the hemangioma, which underwent an intraoperative pathologic diagnosis, was transplanted into the recipient. The donor's postoperative course was uneventful and the recipient course was not observed subsequent liver necrosis, bleeding or bile leakage from the resection site.

Liver allografts with hemangiomas can be accepted as potential liver allografts, and such hemangiomas should undergo be performed in vivo resection during LDLT irrespective of tumor size.