Liver graft volumetric changes after living donor liver transplantation with segment 2 graft for small infants

Urahashi T, Mizuta K, Sanada Y, Wakiya T, Yasuda Y, Kawarasaki H. Liver graft volumetric changes after living donor liver transplantation with segment 2 graft for small infants. Abstract: LT for small infants weighing <5 kg with liver failure might require innovative techniques for size reduction and transplantation of small grafts to avoid large‐for‐size graft, but little is known about post‐transplant graft volumetric changes. Five of 172 children who underwent LDLT received monosegment or reduced monosegment grafts using a modified Couinaud’s segment II (S2) graft for LDLT. Serial CT was used to evaluate the changes in the GV and other factors before LDLT and one and three months after LDLT. The shape of these grafts was classified into an OL type and an LL type. The GV increased in all patients one month after LDLT, whereas the GV decreased three months after LDLT in OL in comparison with one month after LDLT. The GRWR of the OL type has tended to decrease at three months, whereas the LL type showed a continuous increase with time, but finally they had adapted graft size for their body size. In conclusion, the volume of S2 grafts after LDLT had unique changes toward the ideal volume for the child weight when they received the appropriate liver volume.