Liver regeneration after living adult right lobe transplantation

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe liver regeneration in patients undergoing living-adult liver transplantation. Methods: This prospective study included 10 donors and eight recipients who had a total of 65 computed tomographic (CT) scans, All patients had preoperative CT (n=18), and follow-up CT scans (n=47) were obtained for up to 14 months after transplantation. Liver and spleen volumes were measured by hand tracing each organ on the axial portal venous phase images. Results: Both donors and recipients showed immediate increases in liver volume. However, liver regeneration was significantly faster and reached a higher peak in recipients than in donors. Splenic volume in donors demonstrated an initial increase followed by a decline, reaching the preoperative volume after 1 year. Splenic volume in recipients demonstrated immediate decline postoperatively. Conclusion: Restoration of liver volume occurred rapidly after transplantation, but followed different patterns in donors and recipients. Deviation from these patterns warrants further investigation.