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Background/objective: One thousand liver transplantations have been performed at the only liver transplant center in Hong Kong over a period of 22 years, which covered the formative period of living donor liver transplantation. These 1000 transplantations, which marked the journey of liver transplantation from development to maturation at the center, should be educational. This research was to study the experience and to reflect on the importance of technical innovations and case selection. Methods: The first 1000 liver transplantations were studied. Key technical innovations and surgical therapeutics were described. Recipient survival including hospital mortality was analyzed. Recipient survival comparison was made for deceased donor liver transplantation and living donor liver transplantation indicated by hepatocellular carcinoma and other diseases. Results: Among the 1000 transplantations, 418 used deceased donor grafts and 582 used living donor grafts. With the accumulation of experience, hospital mortality improved to < 2% in the past 2 years. In the treatment of diseases other than hepatocellular carcinoma, living donor liver transplantation was superior to deceased donor liver transplantation, with a 10-year recipient survival around 90%. Conclusion: Transplant outcomes have been improving consistently over the series, with a very low hospital mortality and a predictably high long-term survival.

The suitable size of a graft is a key element in the success of liver transplantation. A small-for-size liver graft is very likely to sustain a significant degree of injury as a result of ischemia, preservation, reperfusion, and rejection. Usually, small-for-size grafts are a concern in living-donor liver transplantation rather than in deceased-donor liver transplantation. Here, we describe the successful transplantation of a liver from a 2-year-old deceased donor to a 61-year-old male recipient who suffered from liver failure related to hepatitis B. No report of successful deceased-donor liver transplantation with discrepancies between donor and recipient age and size to such an extent has been found in the literature. Despite unusually large discrepancies, with effort in minimizing the ischemic time, revised surgical techniques, and strong regenerative power of the “young” graft, the old patient's liver function gradually returned to normal. This again proves that the definition of a “suitable graft” evolves with time and experience.

Background/Objective: Donor right hepatectomy (DRH) was developed by master liver surgeons and has been applied in many liver transplant centers as the mainstay for adult living donor liver transplantation. It is a major and complex surgical operation performed on living liver donors for the benefit of liver recipients. The donors deserve the lowest though inevitable morbidity and mortality. In this study, the surgical outcomes of DRH performed by newer surgeons at an established center were studied to assess the transferability of the techniques of this standardized procedure. Methods: We studied 450 consecutive DRHs performed by 11 surgeons. Three surgeons initiated and developed the transplant program and performed the first 200 DRHs (Era I). The role of chief surgeon in the following 250 DRHs (Era II) was gradually taken up by four newer surgeons with close guidance initially. Results: Blood loss and operation time at the end of Era I versus the beginning of Era II were 251 vs. 341 mL and 391 vs. 497 minutes. The learning curve effect in Era I did not occur in Era II. The complication rates of the last 50 cases in Era I and Era II were 16% and 24%, respectively. Era I had one donor death whereas Era II had no donor death. Conclusion: At an established center, DRH can be carried out safely by newer surgeons with good outcomes.

Liver transplantation is a standard treatment for patients with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) with disease progression. Given the multiorgan involvement by amyloidosis, the heart is often involved. When poor cardiac function becomes prohibitive to liver transplantation, a combined heart-liver transplantation (CHLT) is the only realistic treatment. This article records a CHLT for a patient with FAP whose removed liver was immediately transplanted as an amyloidotic hepatic allograft (AHA) to a patient having hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis in a sequential liver transplantation. In the CHLT, the heart and liver are donated by a deceased donor. The newly implanted heart did not tolerate cross clamping of the inferior vena cava (IVC), so a side-to-side anastomosis was performed to connect the IVC and that of the liver graft. Therefore, the AHA was devoid of an IVC. The infrarenal cava procured from the deceased donor was used for reconstruction of the AHA to match a whole graft used in routine deceased-donor liver transplantation. Venoplasty was performed using the graft right hepatic vein and the middle and left hepatic vein stump to form a single cuff. The reconstructed AHA was implanted to the recipient conveniently like a usual whole graft.

Liver transplantation is a life-saving treatment modality, but is hindered by the scarcity of deceased-donor liver grafts. To acquire more liver grafts and thus save more lives, various techniques have been devised and policies adopted, including living-donor, split-graft and sequential liver transplantation; extended donor criteria; and donation after cardiac death. However, with these techniques and policies come a range of entailed medical concerns and concomitant ethical dilemmas, mainly bearing on the welfare of donors and potential donors. In this article, we provide an overview of how the transplant community works towards the end of extending the liver donor pool, with the aim of ensuring that more liver transplant candidates receive their transplant as early as possible. The current strategies in Hong Kong in this regard are also reviewed.

Background and aimSpontaneous rupture of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) carries a high mortality. The use of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in recent years has enriched the armamentarium for hemostasis of spontaneously ruptured HCCs but its results have not been documented. This study investigated the prognosis and outcome of spontaneous rupture of HCC as well as the results of using RFA for hemostasis.Patients and methodFrom January 1991 to December 2010, 5283 patients were diagnosed with HCC at our hospital, and 189 of them had spontaneous rupture of HCCs. They were grouped under two periods: period 1, 1991-2000, n = 70; period 2, 2001-2010, n = 119. RFA was available in period 2 only.ResultsHepatitis B virus infection was predominant in both periods. Surgical hemostasis was mainly achieved by hepatic artery ligation in period 1 and by RFA in period 2. The 30-day hospital mortality after surgical treatment was 55.6% (n = 18) in period 1 and 19.2% (n = 26) in period 2 (p = 0.012). Multivariate analysis identified 4 independent factors for better overall survival, namely, hemostasis by transarterial embolization [corrected] (hazard ratio 0.516, 95% confidence interval 0.354-0.751), hemostasis by RFA (hazard ratio 0.431, 95% confidence interval 0.236-0.790), having surgery as a subsequent treatment (hazard ratio 0.305, 95% confidence interval 0.186-0.498), and a serum total bilirubin level ConclusionThe use of RFA for hemostasis during laparotomy greatly reduced the hospital mortality rate when compared with conventional hepatic artery ligation.

Background. Liver is the commonest site for metastasis in patients with neuroendocrine tumour (NET). A vast majority of treatment strategies including liver directed nonsurgical therapy, liver directed surgical therapy, and nonliver directed therapy have been proposed. In this study we aim to investigate the outcome of liver resection in neuroendocrine tumour liver metastases (NELM). Method. 293 patients had hepatectomy for liver metastasis in our hospital between June 1996 and December 2010. Twelve patients were diagnosed to have NET in their final pathology and their data were reviewed. Results. The median ages of the patients were 48.5 years (range 20–71 years). Eight of the patients received major hepatectomy. Four patients received minor hepatectomy. The median operation time was 418 minutes (range 195–660 minutes). The median tumor size was 8.75 cm (range 0.9–21 cm). There was no hospital mortality. The overall one-year and three-year survivals were 91.7% and 55.6%. The one-year and three-year disease-free survivals were 33.3% and 16.7%. Conclusion. Hepatectomy is an effective and safe treatment for NELM. Reasonable outcome on long term overall survival and disease-free survival can be achieved in this group of patients with a low morbidity rate.

BackgroundLiver stiffness measurement (LSM) using transient elastography has recently become available for the assessment of liver fibrosis. Whether LSM can predict the functional liver reserve in patients undergoing liver resection is not certain.AimTo correlate liver stiffness measurement (LSM) with indocyanine green (ICG) clearance test and liver biochemistry, and to determine its usefulness in predicting postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing liver resection.Patients and methodsTransient elastography and ICG clearance test were performed pre-operatively in 44 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. The LSM and ICG retention rate at 15 minutes (R15) were correlated with pre-operative factors and post-operative outcomes.ResultsThere was significant correlation between ICG R15 and LSM. In patients with LSM ≥11 kPa vs ConclusionLSM correlated well with ICG R15 in patients undergoing liver resection, and predicted early post-operative complications. Addition of LSM to ICG R15 testing may provide better prognostic information for patients undergoing resection.