Comparative Study for the Outcome of Living Donor Liver Transplantation in Patients with Portal Vein Thrombosis in Comparison to Patients without Portal Vein Thrombosis

Abstract Background Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a relative contraindication in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). We monitored the outcome of adult patients with PVT in comparison to patients without PVT in LDLT. Methods This study is a retrospective cohort study. LDLTs that was performed at Liver Transplantation Unit in Air Forces Specialized Hospital and Nasser Institute for Research and Treatment, Cairo, Egypt, between July 2019 to July 2020 were evaluated. 176 cases were divided into two groups according to presence of PVT, group A included 55 recipients who had PVT compared to group B including 121 recipients without PVT. Results In our study (N = 176), postoperative PV complications was recorded in 11 cases (6.3%). Five case in each group had postoperative PVT (9.8% versus 4.1%) respectively and a single case of PV stenosis (0.8%) was documented in non-PVT group. All patients who develop early postoperative PV (n = 3/10) complications unfortunately died because of it, unlike those who developed late PV complications, their one year survival rate was 70% of cases (n = 7/10) and the overall mortality rate in patients developed PV complications was 40%; 4 out of 10 cases. Conclusion PVT is established not to be a contraindication for liver transplantation but needs complex procedures and sophisticated techniques and Surgeons should be aware with these techniques to restore adequate portal flow in transplant for recipients with PVT.