Living donor liver transplantation is a major modality in treating end-stage liver diseases. Nevertheless, transplantation may fail due to occurrence of portal vein stenosis (PVS) Therefore, we established a rat model of different degrees of PVS following 70% partial hepatectomy (PH) and try to explore the relationship between the hemodynamic changes and liver regeneration, in order to provide foundation for further clinical study.

Rats were randomly subjected to six groups: sham operation rats (SOR, n=6); simple 70%PH group (Group A, n=24); mild, moderate, severe PVS following 70%PH (Group B, C, D, n=24 per group); portal vein ligation following 70%PH (PVL, n=6) group. A simple 70%PH was performed in group A as described by Higgins; different degrees of PVS were established by ligating portal trunk with parallel placed needles in different gauges after PH; the portal vein trunk were complete occlusion by thread in PVL rats. The diameter and...

The stenotic rate (SR) in each PVS group was respective: group B (44.82±5.23)%, group C (59.34±4.07)% and group D (69.46±2.17)%, significant differences were observed between every two groups (P<0.05). DR increased with the aggravating stenosis degree, and on the 3rd and 7th day, group C and D were significantly greater than group B (P<0.05). The PVVpost in PVS groups were significantly higher than group A (P<0.05) on the 3rd and 7th day, but no statistical differences between PVS groups were observed. VR of group D...

Ultrasonography can well demonstrated the PVD and PVV changes of rats in different degrees of portal vein stenosis following 70%PH. The PVDs, DR and VR can reflect the stenosis degree of portal vein to some extent. The ultrasound hemodynamic parameters PVDs, DR and VR can be applied in preliminary judging in poor regeneration status induced by PVS in rats, which had potential to be further occupied in monitoring poor regeneration induced by PVS after liver transplantation, while more clinical data is required for further research.

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