Vascular thrombosis in small bowel transplantation: a comparative study in the pig

Forty-six mini-pigs with an average weight of 36 kg underwent small bowel transplantation with four different vascular anastomosis: group 1(4 SBT): arterial (end-to-side) graft mesenterica cranealis (GMC) to recipient aorta (RAo), venous (end-to-side) graft mesenterica ranealis (GMC) to recipient vena cava; group 2(6 SBT): arterial (end-to-side) GMC with aortic graft (AoG) to RAo, venous (end-to-end) GMC to recipient mesenterica cranealis (RMC); group 3(21 SBT): arterial (end-to-end) GMC to RMC, venous (end-to-end) GMC to RMC; group 4(15 SBT): arterial GMC with AoG to RAo, venous (end-to-side, “piggy-back”) GMC to recipient portal vein. Vascular thrombosis (VT) was diagnosed by necropsy, and thrombosis was considered a technical failure from 0 to 72 hours. Heparine (5000 u/12 hours) was used prophylactically.