Expectations from imaging for pre-transplant evaluation of living donor liver transplantation

摘要

Living donor liver transplant(LDLT)is a major surgi-cal undertaking.Detailed pre-operative assessment of the vascular and biliary anatomy is crucial for safe and successful harvesting of the graft and transplantation.Computed tomography(CT)and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)are currently the imaging modalities of choice in pre-operative evaluation.These cross-sec-tional imaging techniques can reveal the vascular and biliary anatomy,assess the hepatic parenchyma and perform volumetric analysis.Knowledge of the broad indications and contraindications to qualify as a recipi-ent for LDLT is essential for the radiologist reporting scans in a pre-transplant patient.Similarly,awareness of the various anatomical variations and pathological states in the donor is essential for the radiologist to generate a meaningful report of his/her observations.CT and MRI have largely replaced invasive techniques such as catheter angiography,percutaneous cholan-giography and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopan-creatography.In order to generate a meaningful report based on these pre-operative imaging scans,it is also mandatory for the radiologist to be aware of the sur-geon’s perspective.We intend to provide a brief over-view of the common surgical concepts of LDLT and give a detailed description of the minimum that a radiologist is expected to seek and report in CT and MR scans per-formed for LDLT related evaluation.