Intestinal transplantation has been established as a treatment option for patients that suffer from intestinal failure with complications from total parenteral nutrition. It is still rapidly evolving and just reached a landmark of 1, 000 cases worldwide. Intestinal allografts can be transplanted as isolated, combined with the liver or as a part of a multivisceral allograft. Tacrolimus-based immunosuppression regimens have been used universally with improved outcomes. Clinical outcome in intestinal transplantation has improved significantly over time, impacted by refinement of surgical technique and novel immunosuppression. However rejection, infection, and technical complications still remain the most difficult barrier to improve patient and graft survival.
Acute Disease ; Graft Rejection/diagnosis ; Humans ; Immunosuppression ; Intestines/*transplantation ; Nutritional Support ; Organ Transplantation/methods ; Postoperative Care ; Viscera/*transplantation

PURPOSE: This study evaluated the accuracy of helical CT angiography (HCTA) in a preoperative evaluation of living renal transplant donors (LRTDs) for visualizing the renal vascular anatomy with an emphasis on identifying the number of renal arteries and the presence of small branches and venous anomalies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From Jan. 2000 to Feb. 2001, a total of 50 potential LRTDs were evaluated with conventional renal angiography (CRA) and HCTA. All candidates then underwent a donor nephrectomy. The HCTA was done according to a standard HCTA protocol. The intraoperative findings on the number of renal vessels were compared with those of the CRA and HCTA respectively. RESULTS: There was an overall agreement on the number of renal arteries and veins between the CRA findings and 3-D reconstruction of the HCTA (91%, 95%). The overall accuracies for predicting the number of renal arteries and veins relative to the intraoperetive findings were 84%, 94% for CRA and 80%, 94% for HCTA respectively. The CRA missed 8 accessory renal arteries while HCTA missed 10. In HCTA, cases with an accessory renal artery with a diameter < or =5 Fr. (1.65mm) and two cases of an early branching single vessel simulating dual arteries, were misdiagnosed. Despite the misdiagnosed cases, there was no significant intraoperative morbidity. The HCTA revealed another lesion of a renal parenchyme, the urinary collecting system and other viscera. There were no significant complications in the process of both techniques. The cost of HCTA was 48% less than the CRA plus the excretory urography (EU) for imaging the potential LRTDs. CONCLUSIONS: A HCTA appears to be as accurate as a CRA for visualizing the renal vascular anatomy in the preoperative assessment of potential LRTDs. A HCTA has the potential to be a good alternative to a CRA plus EU for assessing potential LRTDs.
Angiography* ; Arteries ; Humans ; Kidney Transplantation ; Nephrectomy ; Renal Artery ; Tissue Donors* ; Tomography, Spiral Computed* ; Urography ; Veins ; Viscera

Heterotopic partial liver transplantation(HLT) in the rat is relatively simple method to orthotopic liver transplantation. Addition of mesocaval shunt which diverts almost intestinal blood to systemic circulation provides only splenopancreaticoduodenal blood for the graft. The usefulness of our novel model is first, evaluating the pure effect of pancreaticoduodenal blood to liver regeneration, second, evaluating the contribution of splanchnic viscera to liver reperfusion injury. In the first group (conventional HLT, C-HLT), the thirty percent graft liver was transplanted just below the host liver with whole portal blood input. In the second group(mesocaval shunt added HLT, M-HLT), the superior mesenteric vein was diverted to systemic circulation and portal blood from the spleen-pancreas-duodenum supplied the graft. The graft weight at 2 posttransplant weeks was significantly increased in the C-HLT group compared with the M-HLT group, which suggests pancreatic blood alone is not sufficient to regenerate the partial liver grafts. There was no significant difference in the graft survival between two groups, which implies the influence of intestine to postreperfusion injury is negligible.
Animals ; Graft Survival ; Intestines ; Liver Regeneration ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Mesenteric Veins ; Models, Animal* ; Rats* ; Reperfusion Injury ; Transplants ; Viscera

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) is an angioproliferative disease of the skin and viscera, with the multifactorial origin arising in different clinic-epidemiologic forms. We report a case of a patient with generalized cutaneous and visceral KS, which was successfully treated with paclitaxel. A 78-year-old woman presented with a 2-month history of multiple purpuric nodules and plaques of Kaposi's sarcoma on the face, trunk, and lower extremities. She had not acquired an immunodeficiency syndrome or undergone organ transplantation, but had suffered with osteoarthritis and had taken unknown medication the year prior to presentation. Oral analgesics had also been used as required. Biopsies of both skin and stomach mucosal lesion confirmed KS. The patient was treated with bi-weekly doses of paclitaxel for 5 months. 6 months after the treatment course, histopathological findings on the resolving lesion showed no evidence of Kaposi's sarcoma.
Aged ; Analgesics ; Biopsy ; Female ; Humans ; Lower Extremity ; Organ Transplantation ; Osteoarthritis ; Paclitaxel* ; Sarcoma, Kaposi* ; Skin ; Stomach ; Transplants ; Viscera

Situs inversus refers to a mirror image of the viscera, while situs solitus is defined as the normal anatomical situation. Several cases of successful liver transplantation for situs inversus recipients have been reported, and modifications of the standard surgical techniques were used. We report here on a case of cadaveric liver transplantation in an end-stage liver disease patient with situs inversus. The donor liver was rotated clockwise 90 degrees to the left with the right lobe lying in the left upper quadrant and the left lobe pointing down into the left iliac fossa. The donor's suprahepatic vena cava was oversewn and the infrahepatic vena cava anastomosed end to side to the recipient's inferior vena cava. The postoperative course was good until the postoperative 26th day, when rupture of a hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm occurred. An emergency laparotomy was done and the hepatic artery was ligated. Despite the hepatic artery ligation, the liver function recovered quite well. But sudden intracranial hemorrhage developed on the postoperative 28th day and sadly, the patient expired on the postoperative 30th day. Complete preoperative evaluation of the recipient is essential for the operative planning, and careful donor selection should be attempted to obtain a smaller graft to allow maximum flexibility for placing the donor liver. The use of a reduced-sized graft should be considered in the case for which a smaller graft is not available. In conclusion, adult situs inversus is no longer a contraindication for a liver transplant, although technical difficulties do exist for this procedure.
Adult ; Aneurysm, False ; Cadaver ; Deception ; Donor Selection ; Emergencies ; Hepatic Artery ; Humans ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Laparotomy ; Ligation ; Liver Diseases ; Liver Transplantation* ; Liver* ; Pliability ; Rupture ; Situs Inversus* ; Tissue Donors ; Transplants ; Vena Cava, Inferior ; Viscera

The Kaposi's sarcoma, which was found in an immunosuppressed patient of renal transplantation, may have been developed by long term use of immunosuppressant agent after the renal transplantation. The case was a 29-year-old woman who was diagnosed as chronic renal failure in 1988, and since then, she had been on CAPD until May, 1997. After the renal transplantation in May 1997, the patient has been prescribed cyclosporin and prednisone as immunosuppressant agent. In June 1997, she showed clinical symptom of Kaposi's sarcoma with multiple papules and nodules in the skin and viscera, such as ureter, urinary bladder, stomach, duodenum and subcutaneous tissue of the chest. Multiple excisional biopsies were carried out in the skin, ureter, urinary bladder, stomach and duodenum. All of excisional biopses indicated nodular stages with extensive proliferation of spindle shaped, somewhat pleomorphic cells which have slit-like vascular spaces, proliferation of small vessels, and extravasation of erythrocytes. These lesions nearly diminished after sytemic chemotherpy, excision and discontinuity of immunosuppressive agents.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Cyclosporine ; Duodenum ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Transplantation ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory ; Prednisone ; Sarcoma, Kaposi* ; Skin ; Stomach ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Thorax ; Ureter ; Urinary Bladder ; Viscera

The Kaposi's sarcoma, which was found in an immunosuppressed patient of renal transplantation, may have been developed by long term use of immunosuppressant agent after the renal transplantation. The case was a 29-year-old woman who was diagnosed as chronic renal failure in 1988, and since then, she had been on CAPD until May, 1997. After the renal transplantation in May 1997, the patient has been prescribed cyclosporin and prednisone as immunosuppressant agent. In June 1997, she showed clinical symptom of Kaposi's sarcoma with multiple papules and nodules in the skin and viscera, such as ureter, urinary bladder, stomach, duodenum and subcutaneous tissue of the chest. Multiple excisional biopsies were carried out in the skin, ureter, urinary bladder, stomach and duodenum. All of excisional biopses indicated nodular stages with extensive proliferation of spindle shaped, somewhat pleomorphic cells which have slit-like vascular spaces, proliferation of small vessels, and extravasation of erythrocytes. These lesions nearly diminished after sytemic chemotherpy, excision and discontinuity of immunosuppressive agents.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Cyclosporine ; Duodenum ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Transplantation ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory ; Prednisone ; Sarcoma, Kaposi* ; Skin ; Stomach ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Thorax ; Ureter ; Urinary Bladder ; Viscera