Combine Semicontinuous and Interrupted Sutures for Microvascular Anastomosis

Conventional anastomosis with interrupted sutures can be time-consuming and difficult to perform especially when the operative field is narrow or the vascular pedicle is short, such as hepatic artery reconstrctuion during liver transplantation. However, continuous sutures for anastomosis may cause vessel narrowing and lead to thrombosis. Our aim is to combine these two suture techniques to possess the advantages of both methods during vascular anastomosis. This technique contains continuous sutures at posterior wall of vessels and interrupted sutures at anterior wall of vessels. One patient underwent living-donor liver transplantation and five patients with head and neck cancers who underwent tumor resection were reconstructed with free flap microsurgeris. All artery anastomoses were completed successfully and the postoperative courses of the six patients were smooth. The posterior wall semicontinuous suture technique combined with the interrupted suture technique is a rapid, easy, and reliable alternative compare to the conventional interrupted suture technique, especially for hepatic artery reconstruction during liver transplantation.