Introduction: Auxiliary liver transplantation(ALT) was initially indicated for potentially reversible fulminant hepatic failure(FHF), and recently has been proven to one of the effective treatments for Wilson's disease(WD). Conventional auxiliary liver transplantation includes orthotopic liver transplantation and heterotopic liver transplantation. But the conventional procedure could not avoid the problem of space, functional competition and hemodynamic variation.

Methods: We modified the heterotopic auxiliary partial liver transplantation (HAPLT) to have a splenectomy, thus to have plenty of space implanting graft into the splenic fossa. The recipient's splenic artery and vein was anatomosed to the graft's hepatic artery and portal vein. Anastomosis of the graft's hepatic vein and the recepient's caval orifice of the left renal vein established the outflow.

Results and Discussion: We start our first modified HAPLT for WD in June 2007. The patient recovered well after the transplantation and has been symptom-free during a 8-year follow-up. Since then, 14 WD patients underwent modified HAPLT in our center: 9 received graft(left lateral lobe) from living donor, and the other 5 cases received a split left lateral lobe from DCD(donation after cardiac death) donors. Median follow-up was 57months(28days-104months). Thirteen of 14 patients(92.9) were alive. One patient died at the 28th postoperative day because of pneumonia.

Conclusion: The modified HAPLT is more safe and simple. It might be an effective treatment for WD patients with splenomegaly.