BACKGROUND:During the past years, the number of liver transplantation has increased greatly, but the number of available organs has not increased. In view of the critical shortage of organs, the indications for living-related liver transplantation (LRLT) have broadened since experience with the procedure has been achieved. This study was undertaken to assess the value of multi-slice spiral CT (MSCT) angiography in evaluating the hepatic arterial and veinous anatomy of potential donors for LRLT. METHODS:MSCT was performed after intravenous injection of contrast material at 3 ml/s. The total dose was calculated as 2 ml/kg. Twenty LRLT donors (2 men and 18 women) were subjected to MSCT angiography of hepatic blood vessels. These were generated by volume rendering and maximum intensity projection, while curved planar reformation was added in 5 patients. RESULTS: We identiifed 10 important hepatic vascular variants in 9 of the 20 donors (4 arterial, 4 venous, and 2 portal venous variants). In hepatic arterial variants, two had a replaced right hepatic artery arising from the superior mesenteric artery, an accessory right hepatic artery from the superior mesenteric artery and a replaced left hepatic artery arising from the left gastric artery. In hepatic venous variants, three had an accessory inferior right hepatic vein and one had two accessory inferior right hepatic veins. In hepatic portal venous variants, two had trifurcation of the main portal vein. CONCLUSIONS: As a non-invasive and reliable method, MSCT angiography is of value in the clinical evaluation of LRLT donors. MSCT angiography should be recommended as a routine preoperative examination for potential LRLT donors.