Intraoperative Factors Associated With Early Recipient Death After Adult-to-Adult Living Donor Liver Transplant

Objectives: Living donor liver transplant is the gold standard therapy for patients with terminal hepatic disorders for whom no alternative therapy is available. The primary aim was to assess different intraoperative factors that may predict early death after adult-to-adult living donor liver transplant. The secondary aim was to assess the effect of small-for-size syndrome on mortality. Materials and Methods: This retrospective multicenter cohort study was performed on records from 145 adults with cirrhosis who had received a right lobe living donor liver transplant. Patients were divided according to the occurrence of short-term mortality (death within the first month after transplant). The primary intraoperative parameters included graft weight, surgical duration, mean blood pressure, serum lactate and sodium bicarbonate, transfusions, durations of cold and warm ischemia and anhepatic phase, input and output during surgery, and portal venous pressures. Results: There were statistically significant variations between both cohorts for number of units of packed red blood cells, durations of cold and warm ischemia and anhepatic phase, preclamp and postreperfusion portal venous pressures, average urine output, mean serum lactate, mean blood pressure, and surgical duration (P <.001). Also, there were significant differences in the number of platelets, units of fresh frozen plasma, and mean sodium bicarbonate (P =.025,.003, and.035, respectively). Of the 25 patients who died within the early postoperative period, 20 had developed small-for-size syndrome (P <.001). Conclusions: A variety of intraoperative risk factors may affect early posttransplant mortality, which suggests the high complexity of living donor liver transplants and the need for well-trained experienced teams to perform these surgeries.

Automated summary

Living donor liver transplant is the gold standard therapy for patients with terminal hepatic disorders, and there are various potential intraoperative risk factors that may affect early posttransplant mortality, highlighting the necessity of experienced teams to perform these surgeries.