Kurumboor Prakash1, Jean-Marc Regimbeau, Jacques Belghiti. 1. Department of Hepatopancreatic and Biliary Surgery, Beaujon Hospital, 100 boulevard du Général Leclerc, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, University Paris VII, 92118 Clichy, France.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Surgical resection is the only treatment modality that ensures complete tumor removal in patients with liver tumors involving a major portal vein branch or its bifurcation. Restoration of good portal blood flow is essential for recovery in the early postoperative period and for long-term survival. However, such extended resections often result in large defects at the bifurcation of the portal vein that are not amenable to suturing or end-to-end anastomosis. METHODS: A patch graft technique is very useful for reconstruction of long and elongated defects when other methods are not technically appropriate. We describe a simple technique for reconstructing the portal vein using a patch graft obtained from the hepatic vein stump of the resected specimen. CONCLUSIONS: This technique permits surgeons to reconstruct the portal vein without any need for harvesting another vein and with no need for an additional incision.
BACKGROUND: Surgical resection is the only treatment modality that ensures complete tumor removal in patients with liver tumors involving a major portal vein branch or its bifurcation. Restoration of good portal blood flow is essential for recovery in the early postoperative period and for long-term survival. However, such extended resections often result in large defects at the bifurcation of the portal vein that are not amenable to suturing or end-to-end anastomosis. METHODS: A patch graft technique is very useful for reconstruction of long and elongated defects when other methods are not technically appropriate. We describe a simple technique for reconstructing the portal vein using a patch graft obtained from the hepatic vein stump of the resected specimen. CONCLUSIONS: This technique permits surgeons to reconstruct the portal vein without any need for harvesting another vein and with no need for an additional incision.