Association of skeletal muscle index with postoperative acute kidney injury in living donor hepatectomy: A retrospective single-centre cohort study

Background Although living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is the standard treatment option for patients with end-stage liver disease, it always entails ethical concerns about the risk of living donors. Recent studies have reported a correlation between sarcopenia and surgical prognosis in recipients. However, there are few studies of donor sarcopenia and the surgical prognosis of donors. This study investigated the association between sarcopenia and postoperative acute kidney injury in liver donors. Methods This retrospective study analysed 2892 donors who underwent donor hepatectomy for LDLT between January 2008 and January 2018. Sarcopenia was classified into pre-sarcopenia and severe sarcopenia, which were determined to be -1 standard deviation (SD), and -2 SD from the mean baseline of the skeletal muscle index, respectively. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between donor sarcopenia and postoperative AKI. Additionally, we assessed the association between donor sarcopenia and delayed recovery of liver function (DRHF). Results In the multivariate analysis, donor sarcopenia was significantly associated a higher incidence of postoperative AKI (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 2.65, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.15-6.11, P = .022 in pre-sarcopenia, OR: 5.59, 95% CI: 1.11-28.15, P = .037 in severe sarcopenia, respectively). Additionally, hypertension and synthetic colloid use were significantly associated with postoperative AKI. In the multivariate analysis, risk factors of DRHF were male gender, indocyanine green retention rate at 15 minutes, and graft type, however, donor sarcopenia was not a risk factor. Conclusions Donor sarcopenia is associated with postoperative AKI following donor hepatectomy.

Automated summary

This study found a significant association between donor sarcopenia and postoperative acute kidney injury following donor hepatectomy, with hypertension and synthetic colloid use also being significantly associated with postoperative AKI. However, donor sarcopenia was not a risk factor for delayed recovery of liver function.