HEPATIC ARTERY DISSECTION FOLLOWING LIVER TRANSPLANTATION

The wall of the hepatic artery is as the same as the other medium-size arteries. Early diagnosis and surgical manipulation to the possible complications following liver transplantation is very vital for the graft viability and patient survey. In our case, on the first postoperative day following liver transplantation, we diagnosed hepatic artery stenosis by Doppler ultrasonography. After then we performed a selective hepatic angiography. As a result we detected dissection at the anastomosis site and kinked areas on hepatic artery. Then we performed a new anastomosis by reducing the graft length. With the help of these findings we want to emphasize the importance of vascular complications, early diagnosis and surgical manipulations of these complications that could happen following liver transplantation. (Turkish J Vasc Surg 2005;14(1):41-45).