A prospective randomised trial of bile duct reconstruction at liver transplantation: T tube or no T tube?

A prospective randomised study of end-to-end bile duct reconstruction with or without T-tube drainage during orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) was undertaken in 60 patients well matched for age, sex, aetiology of liver disease, operative blood loss, cold ischaemic time, preoperative serum bilirubin level and Child-Pugh score. Significant biliary complications in the T tube group occurred in five patients and included bile duct stricture (n = 2), bile leak/peritonitis (n = 1) and cholangitis (n = 2). Bile duct strictures occurred in six patients in the no T tube group (P > 0.05, NS). Hepatic artery stenosis was identified in one patient from each group in association with a biliary stricture. Biliary complications in both groups were associated with a prolonged graft cold ischaemic time (P < 0.01). As no significant difference was noted in the number of early and late biliary complications between the two groups, the routine use of a T tube has been discontinued.