Korean J Gastrointest Endosc.  2006 Feb;32(2):94-100.

Biliary Complications after Adult Liver Transplantation

• Lee SS
• Lee KT
• Lee SY
• Kang TW
• Moon W
• Hwang JY
• Yu MK
• Lee JK
• Paik SW
• Joh JW
• Lee SK
• Kim SH
• Rhee JC

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Recently, living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been frequently performed in Korea because of the limited availability of a cadaveric donor (CD). We evaluated the clinical features of patients with biliary complications after liver transplantation and we compared the incidence of biliary complications according to the type of donor and the anastomotic type of the biliary tract.
METHODS
Between May 1996 and July 2004, 300 patients (CDLT 102/LDLT 198) underwent liver transplantation at Samsung Medical Center. The patients who experienced biliary complications during the follow-up period were enrolled to the study and we retrospectively reviewed their cases.
RESULTS
Sixty-seven cases (23%) of biliary complications were noticed in 53 patients (18%). The complications consisted of 20 cases (7%) of bile leakage, 38 cases (13%) of biliary strictures, 7 cases (2%) of biliary stones, and 2 cases (1%) of biliary stenosis due to other cause. There was no significant difference on the incidence of complications between CDLT (15/102; 14.7%) and LDLT (38/198; 19.2%) (p=0.42). In addition, there was no significant difference between choledocho-choledochostomy (43/237; 18.1%) and hepatico-jejunostomy (10/ 63; 15.9%)(p=0.85)
CONCLUSIONS
The incidence rate of biliary complication after liver transplantation was 23%, and there was no difference according to the type of donor and the anastomotic type of biliary tract.

Keyword

Liver transplantation; Complication; Biliary

MeSH Terms

Adult*
Bile
Biliary Tract
Cadaver
Constriction, Pathologic
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Incidence
Korea
Liver Transplantation*
Liver*
Living Donors
Retrospective Studies
Tissue Donors