Abstract: Objective:To investigate the efficacy of tertiary liver transplantation.
Methods:The clinical data of 4 patients with hepatobiliary disease who were admitted to the General Hospital of Chinese People′s Armed Police Forces from April 2002 to December 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. All the patients received orthotopic liver transplantation, and received tacrolimus+mycophenolate mofetil (MMF)+hormone after operation. All the patients were followed up till May 2014, and their prognosis was learned. The measurement data were analyzed using the t test.
Results:Three patients with benign hepatic disease received tertiary liver transplantation due to biliary complications and chronic rejection, and 1 patient with hepatic cancer received tertiary liver transplantation because of hepatic cancer recurrence. The average interval between the primary and secondary liver transplantation was 16.0 months, which was shorter than 22.5 months of the interval between the secondary and tertiary liver transplantation. The mean operation time in the secondary liver transplantation was (11.4±1.0)hours, which was significantly shorter than (14.1±2.2)hours in the tertiary liver transplantation (t=3.644, P<0.05). The median volumes of blood loss in the secondary and tertiary liver transplantation were 1 300 mL and 1 800 mL, and the median volumes of blood transfusion were 1 400 mL and 3 100 mL. The hepatic function of the 4 patients recovered smoothly at the early time after liver transplantation. Two patients (3 cases) were complicated with infection postoperatively (1 patient was infected by pseudomonas aeruginosa within 30 days after liver transplantation, and was cured by active antimicrobial treatment), and they were cured after anti infectional treatment. One patient died of hepatic failure at the 80th month after the primary liver transplantation, 1 died of hepatic cancer recurrence complicated by pulmonary, bone and retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis at the 107th month after the primary liver transplantation, and the other 2 patients survived for 104 months and 26 months after the primary liver transplantation, respectively.
Conclusion:Tertiary liver transplantation is effective for the treatment of biliary complications and chronic rejection after liver transplantation, and it can extend the life span of patients with hepatic cancer recurrence if there are insufficient donor resources.