First case of cross-auxiliary double domino donor liver transplantation

World J Gastroenterol. 2017 Nov 28;23(44):7939-7944. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i44.7939.

Abstract

We report a case of double domino liver transplantation in a 32-year-old woman who was diagnosed with familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) and liver dysfunction. A two-stage surgical plan was designed, and one domino graft was implanted during each stage. During the first stage, an auxiliary domino liver transplantation was conducted using a domino graft from a 4-year-old female child with Wilson's disease. After removing the right lobe of the FAP patient's liver, the graft was rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise and placed along the right side of the inferior vena cava (IVC). The orifices of the left, middle, and right hepatic veins were reconstructed using an iliac vein patch and then anastomosed to the right side of the IVC. Thirty days later, a second domino liver graft was implanted. The second domino graft was from a 3-year-old female child with an ornithine carbamyl enzyme defect, and it replaced the residual native liver (left lobe). To balance the function and blood flow between the two grafts, a percutaneous transcatheter selective portal vein embolization was performed, and "the left portal vein" of the first graft was blocked 9 mo after the second transplantation. The liver function indices, blood ammonia, and 24-h urinary copper levels were normal at the end of a 3-year follow-up. These two domino donor grafts from donors with different metabolic disorders restored normal liver function. Our experience demonstrated a new approach for resolving metabolic disorders with domino grafts and utilizing explanted livers from children.

Keywords: Case report; Domino liver transplantation; Double graft; Familial amyloid polyneuropathy; Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency; Wilson’s disease.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Allografts / blood supply
  • Allografts / surgery
  • Amyloid Neuropathies, Familial / surgery*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Hepatectomy / methods*
  • Hepatic Veins / surgery
  • Humans
  • Liver / blood supply
  • Liver / surgery
  • Liver Transplantation / methods*
  • Living Donors
  • Plastic Surgery Procedures / methods
  • Tissue and Organ Harvesting / methods*
  • Vascular Surgical Procedures / methods