The Efficiency of Volumetry in Graft Weight Assessment in Living Donor Liver Transplant

Abstract Background Liver transplantation is the treatment of choice for end-stage hepatic diseases. The most important factor responsible for the success of the transplant is the size of the graft and the remnant liver volume in the donor. A small graft may not meet the metabolic demands of the recipient resulting in impaired liver functions such as hyperbilirubinemia, prolonged prothrombin time (PT), ascites and portal hypertension. Patient and Methods This comparative study was conducted on manual contrast enhanced hepatic CT scans of 40 potential living liver donors (29) male and (11) female Age range from (18 to 50 ) in Ain shams specialized hospital and some private centers during the period from May 2021 till July 2022. The potential donors were investigated using 16 channel multi-detector row CT scanner (Alexion; Toshiba medical systems). All potential donors underwent 1st step laboratory investigations to enter the 2nd step investigations for living donor liver transplantation operations. All potential donors were of average weight and physically fit for operation with no history of any medical diseases. Results We correlated the results of CT volumetry of right lobe graft weight with the intra-operative weight of liver graft in patients undergoing Living Donor Liver Transplantation(LDLT). CT Volumetry is an efficient and a reliable tool for assessing potential donors undergoing liver transplant, and this information is essential for donor selection and pre operative surgical planning as well as it ensure that the liver remnant volume is at least 30 % which guarantee the safety of the donor. Conclusion The size of the right lobe graft for LDLT can be precisely calculated from pre-operative CT Volumetry with confidence and accuracy up to 95%.