Surgical Perspectives on the AASLD Guideline for Anticoagulation and Implications for Liver Transplantation.

Thromboses of the hepatic and splanchnic vasculature, as both a cause and manifestation of end stage liver disease, represent some of the most formidable perioperative challenges for the transplant surgeon. Thomas Starzl's encounters with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in the early era of liver transplantation and the resultant intraoperative deaths made PVT an absolute to relative contraindication to transplant for years1 .