Abstract
On March 11, 2011, our hospital was severely damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake. We report the rare case of a 5-month-old patient with hepatic artery thrombosis (HAT) after a living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT). The patient survived the earthquake, which occurred 3 days after the reoperation, even though we were without abilities to perform blood tests or computed tomography (CT) for 4 days after.
This female infant with biliary atresia underwent LDLT 5 months after birth and developed peritonitis resulting from perforation of the small intestine 7 days later. Her blood pressure decreased and she developed HAT. We performed emergency reconstruction of the hepatic artery and repair of the small intestine; 3 days later, the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred.
We could not perform blood tests or CT scan because the water supply was damaged. Gas supply lines were also damaged, and sterilization was not possible; surgical tools were limited. However, emergency power was available, so we performed ultrasonography every 6 hours and predicted liver function from intrahepatic blood flow, also monitoring for Glisson's capsule edema. The blood examination system recovered 14 days after LDLT, and we confirmed improvement of the liver function. The patient was extubated 37 days after LDLT and discharged on postoperative day 67.
*This article is a secondary publication in Japanese of "A patient with hepatic artery thrombosis after living-donor liver transplantation survived the great East Japan Earthquake 3 days after reoperation; a case report." published by Miyagi S, Kawagishi N, Satoh K, et al. Transplant Proc 2013; 45: 2066-2068.
