Fibrin glue-infiltrating hemostasis for intractable bleeding from the liver or spleen during liver transplantation

Portal hypertension induces congestion of the liver and spleen, thus any capsular or parenchymal injury to these organs can produce intractable bleeding which generally is not easily controlled. To cope with intractable bleeding such as being encountered during liver transplantation, we developed an infiltrating hemostasis technique as a conceptual shift from conventional application methods, in which fibrin glue is locally injected into the bleeding area on the liver or spleen. This technique, which uses a fibrin glue kit (2 ml kit; Greenplast, Green Cross, Seoul, Korea), consists of inserting the needle 0.5-1 cm deep at the bleeding point, forcefully injecting 1 ml of fibrin glue contained in the fibrin glue kit, and then slowly withdrawing the needle with continuous forceful injection of the remaining 1 ml of fibrin glue. We have successfully performed this procedure in 6 cases of living donor liver transplantation and in 2 cases of non-transplant resection of the cirrhotic livers with hepatocellular carcinoma. This technique was also successfully applied to one liver transplant recipient in which intractable bleeding occurred from a small laceration at the spleen. Our fibrin glue-infiltrating hemostasis would be indicated to intractable bleeding from the hepatic or splenic cut surface. In such a situation, it would be applicable as a second-line rescue method for hemostasis.