Prevention and treatment of hepatic artery thrombosis after liver transplantation

Objective To explore means of preventing and treating hepatic artery thrombosis after liver transplantation. Methods From May 1996 to May 1999, consecutive liver transplantation was performed in 4 patients with Wilson′s disease and 1 with cirrhosis after hepatitis B viral infection. Four whole liver grafts and 1 reduced size were transplanted. The recipient proper hepatic artery was used to provide arterial inflow in all the transplants. After the operation, aspirin, dextran 10 and dipyridamole were used for anticoagulation. Doppler ultrasound was available to evaluate the patency of hepatic artery thrombosis. Results None of the recipients deve loped hepatic artery thrombosis. Except for the patient with cirrhosis after hepatitis B viral infection died on the 210th day, other 4 with Wilson′s disease survived for 36, 32, 18 and 2 months, respectively. Conclusions Anticoagulation can be used as a model for the prevention of hepatic artery thrombosis in liver transplantation.