[En bloc transplantation of liver, stomach, pancreas and small intestine in an infant. Apropos of a case].

The now common practice of joint kidney and pancreas or heart or lung transplantation is being completed by other combinations. This is shown by our case of en bloc liver-pancreas-stomach-duodenum-small bowel transplantation in an 18-month-old infant with small bowen atresia complicated by biliary cirrhosis secondary to total parenteral feeding, after the failure of an intraperitoneal visceral transplant at 1 year of age. The graft was taken from an 8-year-old donor and was not pretreated. Being made of the whole intraperitoneal visceral mass, it had to be adapted to the recipient's size by ex vivo exeresis of the right liver, of the spleen, of the terminal ileon and of the colon. Following intraperitoneal visceral exenteration in the recipient, the graft was inserted in an orthoptic position with a digestive reconstruction by esogastric anastomosis and terminal ileostomy. Immunosuppression combined steroids, azathioprine, ciclosporine, and the biological and immunological follow-up regarded the hepatic and pancreatic functions. The intestinal graft was controlled by repeated biopsies through the stomy. Rectal biopsies and lymphocyte typing in the peripheral blood allowed watching for the occurrence of a possible graft-versus-host disease. The outcome was marked by the persistence of massive lymphorrhea during three months and severe central neurological disorders caused by the difficulties to adapt the level of ciclosporine. The hepatic and pancreatic functions became normal within a few days, and the intestinal function allowed progressively suppressing parenteral feeding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)