BACKGROUND: Success in living donor liver transplantation is associated to donor vascular and biliar anatomy. AIM: Compare pre-operative and per-operative findings in living liver donors related to portal vein, hepatic artery, bile duct and hepatic venous drainage anatomy. METHODS: Donors charts of living donor liver transplants done at Clinics Hospital of the Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil, were reviewed between March 1998 and August 2005. On the pre-operative period the anatomy was analysed through: celiac and mesenteric arteriography of the hepatic artery and portal vein (venous phase); magnetic resonance imaging of the venous drainage, portal vein and bile duct. Normality was determined based on data of the literature. Pre-operative findings were compared to per-operative findings. RESULTS: Portal vein and hepatic artery were studied in 44 patients, 16 females and 28 males, mean age of 33 years old. In 8 cases the left liver lobe was used to pediatric receptor, in 36 cases the right liver lobe was used to adult receptor. Bile duct anatomy was studied in 37 cases and venous drainage in 32. Over all, the findings related to pre-operative and per-operative anatomy were not coincident in 36.36% of the cases. In the case of hepatic artery, they were not coincident in 11.36%, in the case of the portal vein in 9.1%, in the case of the venous drainage in 9.37% and in the case of the bile duct in 21.6%. CONCLUSION: The pre-operative and per-operative findings related to vascular and bile duct donor anatomy are frequently different in living donor liver transplantation.
Liver; Bile ducts; Liver; Liver transplantation; Portal vein; Hepatic artery
