Correlation between portal vein anatomy and bile duct variation in 407 living liver donors

Our aim was to determine whether variant bile duct (BD) anatomy is associated with portal vein (PV) and/or hepatic artery (HA) anatomy. We examined the associations between BD anatomy and PV and/or HA anatomy in 407 living donor transplantation donors. We also examined whether the right posterior BD (RPBD) course was associated with the PV and/or HA anatomy. Variant PV, HA and BD anatomies were found in 11%, 25% and 25%, respectively, of 407 donors enrolled in this study. The presence of a variant BD was more frequently associated with a variant PV than with a normal PV (61% vs. 20%, p<0.0001). By contrast, the presence of a variant HA was not associated with a variant BD. A supraportal RPBD was found in 357 donors (88%) and an infraportal RPBD was found in 50 donors (12%). An infraportal RPBD was significantly more common in donors with a variant PV than in donors with a normal PV (30% vs. 10%, p=0.0004). Variant PV, but not variant HA, anatomies were frequently associated with variant BD anatomy. Additionally, an infraportal RPBD was more common in donors with a variant PV than in donors with a normal PV. This study investigating the anatomy of 407 living liver donors indicates that variant portal vein, but not variant hepatic artery, anatomies are frequently associated with variant bile duct anatomy.