Objective To investigate the diagnosis and treatment of hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) after adult orthotopic liver transplantation.

Methods The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 411 patients who underwent adult orthotopic liver transplantation in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi′an Jiaotong University from December 2011 to July 2018 were collected. There were 328 males and 83 females, aged from 21 to 66 years, with a median age of 46 years. Observation indicators: (1) incidence of HAT and its clinical characteristics; (2) diagnosis of HAT; (3) treatment of HAT; (4) follow‑up. Follow‑up using outpatient service, telephone interview or WeChat group communication was conducted to detect the incidence of biliary stricture and survival of patients up to August 2018. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean±SD, measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range). Count data were described as absolute numbers or percentages. Survival rate was estimated using the Kaplan‑Meier method.

Results (1) Incidence of HAT and its clinical characteristics: 11 of 411 patients had HAT after orthotopic liver transplantation with the incidence of 2.68%(11/411), including 10 males and 1 female, aged 44 years(range, 22-63 years). The time to occurrence of postoperative HAT was 4 days(range, 1-15 days). The etiologies of 11 patients included 6 cases of hepatitis B virus‑related cirrhosis, 1 case of hapatitis related cirrhosis, 1 case of hepato-cellular carcinoma, 1 case of liver cirrhosis, 1 case of alcoholic hepatitis related cirrhosis, 1 case of wilson disease. All the 11 patients were ABO compatible. The cold ischemic time and warm ischemic time of donor liver were (316±89)minutes and (13±4)minutes, respectively. Type Ⅰ arterial anasto-mosis was conducted in 11 patients. The clinical manifestations included asymptomatic type in 10 patients and sepsis type in 1 patient. (2) Diagnosis of HAT: all the 11 patients were confirmed with HAT by endovascular angiography, including 7 cases showed no arterial flow under Color Doppler ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound indicated HAT. Two patients showed increased hepatic artery resistance index under Color Doppler ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound indicated 1 case of HAT and 1 case of anastomotic stenosis. One patient showed slow velocity of hepatic artery blood flow and low resistance index under color Doppler ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound indicated HAT. One patient showed slight blood flow signals under Color Doppler ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound indicated HAT. (3) Treatment of HAT: 11 patients received endovascular therapy. Six patients had HAT completely disappeared after thrombolytic therapy, 5 patients with residual thrombosis continued thrombolytic therapy with microcatheter urokinase. Six patients with complications were improved after symptomatic treatment. HAT completely disappeared after (6.7±2.6)days of treatment and the clinical success rate was 11/11. (4) Follow-up: 11 patients were followed up for 19-1 722 days, with a median follow-up time of 46 days. During the follow-up, 4 patients had biliary stricture and underwent stent implantation. Nine patients survived with 1-, 3-, 5-year overall survival rates of 75%, 75%, 75%, and 2 patients died.

Conclusions The incidence of HAT after adult orthotopic liver transplantation is low and clinical manifestations are atypical. Contrast enhanced ultrasound can improve diagnosis of suspected thrombosis. Endovascular therapy is safe and effective, which can significantly improve the blood flow of hepatic artery.