Abstract:Objective:To explore the causative factors affecting long-term biliary tract complications after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Methods:A retrospective analysis of the clinical data of 41 patients who had survived more than 6 months after OLT was undertaken. Among these 41 cases, 29 patients (group A) recovered without any biliary tract complications, but 12 patients(group B) had biliary tract complictions long-term after OLT. The following clinical data were compared between group A and group B: patient′s age and sex, primary disease, liver function grade of recipient, period of donor brain death to aorta cold perfusion(the first warm ischemia period, warm ischaemia time 1), cold ischemia period, period from portal vein reperfusion and hepatic artery reperfusion for new liver(second warm ischemia time), operation period, volume of operative blood loss, and the rate of hepatic artery thrombosis. Results:The patient′s age in group A was younger than that in group B (46.9±10.5 ys vs 53.7±7.4 ys, P<0.05)；The second warm ischemia period in group A was shorter than that in group B (63.38±22.97mins vs 81.25±30.87 mins, P<0.05 )；The blood loss in group A was less than that in group B (3 817.2±1 402 mL vs 5 579.2±1 801.4mL, P<0.05). The donor liver with first warm ischemia beyond 5 minutes and cold ischemia beyond 8 hours was found in 12 cases(12/29) in group A, and 6 cases in group B (6/12, P>0.05 ). Conclusions:The length of the first warm ischemia period and cold storage period does not affect the occurrence of biliary tract complications. The second warm ischemia period influenced the complications of biliary tract after OLT, and should be as short as possible. It seems that biliary tract complictions occur more frequently in elderly patients following OLT.