Objective To investigate the influencing factors for anastomotic biliary stric-ture after liver transplantation.

Methods The retrospective case-control study was conducted. The clinical data of 428 recipients who underwent allogeneic orthotopic liver transplantation in the First Hospital of Jilin University from September 2014 to August 2021 were collected. There were 324 males and 104 females, aged (52±10)years. Observation indicators: (1) surgical conditions of recipients; (2) occurrence of anastomotic biliary stricture after liver transplantation and its treat-ment; (3) analysis of influencing factors for anastomotic biliary stricture after liver transplantation. Follow-up was conducted using outpatient examination to detect occurrence of anastomotic biliary stricture and treatment up to August 30, 2021. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean±SD, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the t test. Measure-ment data with skewed distribution were represented as M(Q₁,Q₃) or M(range), and comparison between groups was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Count data were represented as absolute numbers, and the chi-square test was used for comparison between groups. Logistic regression model was used for multivariate analysis.

Results (1) Surgical conditions of recipients: the operation time of 428 recipients was 465(420,520)minutes, the cold ischemia time was 368(320,450)minutes, and the volume of intraoperative blood loss was 2 500(1 500,4 000)mL. Of the 428 recipients, 142 cases were performed continuous biliary posterior wall anastomosis + interrup-ted anterior wall anastomosis by polygluconate sutures, 286 cases were anastomosed with polypro-pylene sutures, including 169 cases undergoing continuous biliary posterior wall anastomosis combined with interrupted anterior wall anastomosis, 73 cases undergoing completely interrupted biliary anterior and posterior wall anastomosis, and 44 cases undergoing completely continuous biliary anterior and posterior wall anastomosis. None of the 428 recipients had indwelling T tubes. (2) Occurrence of anastomotic biliary stricture after liver transplantation and its treatment:all the 428 recipients were followed up for 3 to 72 months, with a median follow-up time of 28 months. During the follow-up, 50 patients developed anastomotic biliary stricture, of which 41 patients were treated with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, 8 patients were treated with percutaneous transhepatic cholangial drainage, and 1 patient was treated with surgery, showing no recurrence. (3)Analysis of influencing factors for anastomotic biliary stricture after liver transplanta-tion: results of univariate analysis showed that anastomosis method and donor liver cold ischemia time were related factors for postoperative anastomotic biliary stricture of recipients undergoing allogeneic orthotopic liver transplantation (χ²=15.74, Z=-2.04, P<0.05). Results of multivariate analysis showed that completely interrupted biliary anterior and posterior wall anastomosis and donor liver cold ischemia time were independent influencing factors for postoperative anastomotic biliary stricture of recipients undergoing allogeneic orthotopic liver transplantation (odds ratio=0.25, 1.00, 95% confidence interval as 0.08-0.85, 1.00-1.01, P<0.05).

Conclusions Suture type is not an influencing factor for postoperative anastomotic biliary stricture of recipients undergoing allogeneic orthotopic liver transplantation. Completely interrupted biliary anterior and posterior wall anastomosis and donor liver cold ischemia time were independent influencing factors.