Procurement of the liver and the whole pancreas from a single cadaver donor

Safely harvesting the liver as well as the whole pancreas from a single donor is not yet common practice in transplantation surgery, since these organs have a partially common blood supply. Two harvesting procedures are described followed by successful transplantation of five solid organs from each donor, including liver and whole pancreas. Important details of the preferred surgical technique are the division of the hepatic artery just distal to the splenic artery and keeping the aortic patch, including superior mesenteric artery and coeliac trunk with the pancreas graft. Using this technique the liver and the whole pancreas could be transplanted without extra vascular anastomoses, while vascular grafts were not necessary. The risk of thrombosis during pancreas and liver transplantation is minimized in this way, while the primary function of each of the five harvested organs was excellent.