Biliary Reconstruction in Pediatric Liver Transplantation: A Case Report of Biliary Complications and Review of the Literature

With the advent of segmental liver allografts from liver donors, reduced-size cadaveric allografts, and split cadaveric allografts, pediatric pre-transplantation patient mortality has reduced. However, this expansion of the donor pool for size-appropriate allografts for patients with end-stage liver disease has led to an increased incidence of biliary complications. We performed a retrospective review of our series of 242 pediatric patients who received a liver transplantation. Biliary complications at our institution are presented, with a review of the current literature identifying risk factors that predispose pediatric liver transplant patients to biliary complications. We present the protocol used at our institution to minimize risk of biliary complications in our pediatric post-operative patient population.