Living donor liver transplantation

Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is a lengthy and complex operation in which lobe or segment from the potential donor is resected and transplanted into the recipient patient after excision of the diseased liver

Techniques

Adults

The most common technique is right hemihepatectomy, with resection of the right hepatic lobe along a hepatectomy plane to the right of the middle hepatic vein (i.e excluding the middle hepatic vein).

Pediatrics

The most common technique is left lateral segmentectomy, with resection of segments 2 and 3 along a hepatectomy plane running just to the right of the falciform ligament. Another technique is a left hemihepatectomy, with resection of the left hepatic lobe (segments 2, 3 and 4) including the middle hepatic vein.

NB: the hepatic segments were originally numbered by Roman numerals I to VIII, but the Arabic numerals 1 to 8 are now preferred