[Preoperative assessment of liver transplantation. Contribution of imaging]

Medical imaging plays an essential role in the preoperative assessment of liver transplant patients to detect any lesions contraindicating the operation or to detect any anatomical variants in the recipient likely to lower the chances of success of the transplantation. At the present time, the imaging techniques useful in the preoperative assessment are colour Doppler ultrasound, abdominal CT scan and coeliac and superior mesenteric arteriography. The calibre and patency of the portal trunk and its branches, the hepatic artery at the porta hepatis, the hepatic veins and their distribution and the inferior vena cava are systematically evaluated. Systematic identification of the various portosystemic shunts in the context of portal hypertension helps to define a veritable preoperative map.