Evaluation of hepatic vascular anatomy by multidetector computed tomography angiography in living liver right lobe donors

Background and Aims: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the hepatic vascular anatomy and the variations in living right lobe donors by multidetector computed tomography angiography before the transplantation surgery and to detect the prevalence of these variations. Materials and Methods: Fifty-one potential liver donors (20 females, 31 males) underwent hepatic vascular computed tomography angiography in the arterial, portal and venous phases with a 16-row computed tomography scanner in our clinic. Twoand three-dimensional images were obtained using multiplanar reformat, maximum intensity projection and volume rendering techniques. Results: Thirty-five of the 51 patients (68,6%) had conventional arterial anatomic pattern (type I) and 16 patients (31,4%) had hepatic arterial variations. In 30 patients (58,8%), the portal vein had normal intrahepatic anatomy, while 21 patients (41,2%) had portal vein variations. Eight patients (15,7%) had normal hepatic venous anatomy and 43 patients (84,3%) had hepatic venous variations. Conclusions: Due to the high-speed volumetric scanning and high-quality twoand three-dimensional imaging with the use of thin slices, multidetector computed tomography angiography is a useful method for evaluating hepatic arterial, hepatic and portal venous systems in living liver right lobe donors.