The use of left grafts with a replaced or accessory left hepatic artery in adult‐to‐adult living donor liver transplantation: analyses of donor and recipient outcomes

In living donor liver transplantation (LDLT), a left hepatic graft occasionally includes a replaced or accessory left hepatic artery (LHA). The procuring of such grafts requires extensive dissection along the lesser curvature of the stomach to elongate the replaced or accessory LHA on the donor side. On the recipient side, complicated arterial reconstruction is often necessary to use such grafts. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 206 adult recipients who underwent LDLT and their respective donors. The recipients and donors were divided into two groups according to the presence of the replaced or accessory LHA. Twenty‐five grafts included a replaced or accessory LHA. Only one hepatic artery‐related complication was observed in the current series, in which a pseudoaneurysm arose at the site of anastomosis between the donor accessory LHA and the recipient LHA. There was no increase in the incidence of postoperative complications in the donors with a replaced or accessory LHA in comparison with the donors without these arteries. The use of left hepatic grafts that included a replaced LHA or accessory LHA did not have any negative impact on the outcomes on either the donor or the recipient side.