This illustration shows the vascular connections of a standard liver transplant. The donor hepatic artery is the most important part of this drawing. The transplant surgeon removes the donor liver by taking a large plug of donor abdominal aorta. Therefore, the donor blood supply includes a plug of aorta, celiac trunk, hepatic artery proper, and further distal liver blood supply. The surgeon prepares the recipient arterial blood supply by dividing the recipient blood supply in such a way that two small, branching blood vessels are divided on their common wall to form one large diameter end for anastomosis. A larger anastomosis site for the arterial blood supply to the donor organ decreases the likelihood that the vessel will stenose at the anastomosis site and cause failure of the transplantation. This concept is conveyed to transplant surgeons by simply showing the arterial supply with a larger diameter at the anastomosis site and by showing the ligated stumps of the gastroduodenal and right gastric arteries.

Pen and ink illustration.

For Michael Abecassis, MD; Department of Surgery, Northwestern University; Chicago, Illinois.

Published as:
ABC News Chicago (WLS), "Payton's Challenge." February 2, 1999; 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. news. Chicago, Illinois.
Abecassis MM, Blei AT, Flamm S, Fryer JP. Liver Transplantation. In: Stuart FP, Abecassis MM, Kaufman DB, eds. Organ Transplantation. Georgetown: Landes Bioscience, 2000: 186.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital Press Conference, ÒPrimary Sclerosing Cholangitis.Ó February 2, 1999. Chicago, Illinois.
NBC News Chicago (WMAQ), "Payton's Challenge." February 2, 1999; 4:30 and 6:00 p.m. news. Chicago, Illinois.
Ramsey G. Transfusion Therapy in Solid Organ Transplantation. In: Simon T, Dzik S, Snyder E, Stowell C, Strauss R, eds, Rossi's Principles of Transfusion Medicine. 3rd Ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (in press). Publications

© 1999, Bill Walsh.