Modified sleeve anastomosis for reconstruction of the hepatic artery in rat liver transplantation.

End-to-end sleeve anastomosis between a donor common hepatic artery and a recipient proper hepatic artery was proven to be the most physiological and simple method for hepatic rearterialization in rat liver transplantation. Current technical variants of the sleeve technique, however, are hampered by the high rate of bleeding from the anastomotic site. This report deals with a technical modification which inhibits postoperative bleeding efficiently. The procedure consisted of a guiding suture, as previously described in other technical variants, and a modified fixing suture. Instead of using a single stitch to fix the feeding vessel with the receiving vessel, a running suture between the edge of the donor common hepatic artery and the adventitia of the recipient proper hepatic artery was performed to avoid a possible backflow. The patency rate of 91% was as high as reported by others using a sleeve technique, which was also reflected in the histomorphological picture, being indistinguishable from normal liver histology. This technical modification simplified the procedure of reconstructing the hepatic artery and could contribute to a wider use of the arterialized liver transplantation model in rats. Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.