Surgical text for orthotopic liver transplantation model with small-for-size graft in the pig: key techniques and pitfalls.

Background: Challenges with small-for-size grafts are a critical issue in the liver transplantation field, and a reliable and reproducible animal model is required.

Method: We performed 50 orthotopic liver transplantations in pigs with a 30% graft, and retrospectively investigated the learning curves. We modified our surgical procedures according to our experience.