A liver transplant can be orthotopic, heterotopic or auxiliary. An orthotopic liver transplant is also called liver replacement because the donor organ is placed in the same location of the native liver, after the latter has been removed.
Heterotopic and auxiliary partial liver transplantation provides  temporary support for both acute, reversible liver injuries and chronic, irreversible diseases. In both procedures, a portion or all of the diseased liver remains in situ and an auxiliary portion of a donor liver is transplanted.
A heterotopic liver transplant is usually performed placing a graft in the right subhepatic region; the vessels of the graft (vena cava, portal vein and hepatic artery) are anastomosed to those of the patient and bile drainage is restored by creating an anastomosis between the common bile duct of the graft and a Roux-en-Y jejunal loop.
An auxiliary partial liver transplant usually comprises segments II and III, placed orthotopically in the abdominal cavity of the recipient, whereas an auxiliary liver transplant consists in the transplantation of the whole liver without the removal of the native liver.