Preoperative assessment of risk in liver transplantation: a multivariate analysis in 2376 cases of the UW era

[Liver transplantation: teaching strategies used with patients waiting for surgery]

This study aims to describe the learning results of the implementation of teaching strategies involving patients who will be submitted to liver transplantation. One of these strategies is to give the patients a manual with orientations and the subsequent application of a questionnaire related to the content of the manual. Authors analyzed 13 patients who were waiting for liver transplantation. With respect to the answers regarding the questionnaire, an average of 83.8% of correct responses was given and only one patient got all the questions right. During the correction and the time to clarify their doubts, authors concluded that the opportunity of reading the manual and applying the questionnaire allowed patients and families to get a better understanding about the surgery's most important aspects.

Advances in liver transplantation. New strategies and current care expand access, enhance survival

Liver transplantation revolutionized the management of liver disease. Although the number of patients who could benefit from a transplant far exceeds the number of available cadaveric donors, new strategies, such as splitting cadaveric organs and using living donors, have expanded access to transplantation. Here, a team of transplant physicians highlights these new strategies, as well as the long-term management issues of special relevance to primary care physicians caring for transplant recipients.

Estimation of liver size for liver transplantation: the impact of age and gender

In general, the liver is considered to be larger in males than in females. In the present study, data on liver weight from 728 legal autopsies were analyzed with respect to gender, age, body height (BH), body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), and body surface area (BSA). Descriptive statistics revealed that liver weight increases with age, reaching maximum values between 41 and 50 years in men and between 51 and 60 years in women. Thereafter, liver weight decreases again. Because this loss in liver weight starts earlier in men while liver weight continues to rise in women, the difference in liver weight between men and women is lost above the age of 50. Thus, this age defines a threshold value below which gender is expected to be a critical factor in the calculation of liver weight. When demographic data mentioned above were subjected to multiple stepwise linear regression analysis, liver weight (LW) was best predicted in younger people (16-50 years) by body weight, age, and gender: LW (g) = 452 + 16.34 x BW + 11.85 x age - 166 x gender (r(2) = 0.381; "gender": 1 = female, 0 = male). In contrast, in elderly people (51-70 years) LW was best predicted by BW and age only. Gender was not a significant factor. LW (g) = 1390 + 15.94 x BW - 12.86 x age (r(2) = 0.35). When these formulas were applied to demographic data from 97 organ donors and compared to published formulas (which, however, do not consider the age-dependent effects of gender), the new formulas best predicted male to female liver weight ratios in younger and elderly donors. In conclusion, the new formulas might better predict liver weight in organ donors and transplant recipients to avoid liver size mismatch.

Liver transplantation. American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

Liver transplantation has revolutionized the care of patients with end-stage liver disease. Liver transplantation is indicated for acute or chronic liver failure from any cause. Because there are no randomized controlled trials of liver transplantation versus no therapy, the efficacy of this surgery is best assessed by carefully comparing postoperative survival with the known natural history of the disease in question. The best examples of this are in primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis, for which well-validated disease-specific models of natural history are available. There are currently relatively few absolute contraindications to liver transplantation. These include severe cardiopulmonary disease, uncontrolled systemic infection, extrahepatic malignancy, severe psychiatric or neurological disorders, and absence of a viable splanchnic venous inflow system. One of the most frequently encountered contraindications to transplantation is ongoing destructive behavior caused by drug and alcohol addiction. The timing of the surgery can have a profound impact on the mortality and morbidity of patients undergoing liver transplantation. Because of the long waiting lists for donor organs, the need to project far in advance when transplantation might be required has proven to be one of the greatest challenges to those treating patients with end-stage liver disease. Three important questions must be addressed in a patient being considered for liver transplantation: (1) when should the patient be referred for possible transplantation? (2) when should the patient be listed for transplantation? and (3) when is the patient too sick to have a reasonable chance of surviving the perioperative period?

Outcome of liver transplantation in critically ill patients with alcoholic cirrhosis: survival according to medical variables and sobriety

BACKGROUND

At our center from August 1989 to December 1992, 834 adults underwent orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) using tacrolimus as the primary immunosuppressive agent. A total of 183 adults (22%) had alcohol-related liver disease. Patients with alcoholic cirrhosis had a better though not statistically significant 5-year survival rate compared with all other patients. We were interested in specific predictors of survival, particularly for alcoholic cirrhotics who were gravely ill at the point of transplantation.

METHODS

For the 78 patients with alcohol-related liver disease who were United Network for Organ Sharing status IIA (critically ill) at the point of transplantation, variables of length of sobriety, alcohol rehabilitation, and medical variables (ventilator support, dialysis, vasopressor support, degree of encephalopathy, and infection) were assessed for contribution to survival.

RESULTS

Although there was a trend toward poorer survival in patients with the shortest length of sobriety (< or =1 month), pre-OLT length of sobriety or alcohol rehabilitation did not predict survival. However, these patients tended to be in multiorgan failure and encephalopathic. Nevertheless, pre-OLT dialysis requirement was the only variable that predicted poorer survival (P < 0.002). This study was not designed to evaluate recidivism. However, we know that 24% of these patients have used alcohol at some point after OLT.

CONCLUSIONS

Short pre-OLT length of sobriety may not predict which patients are likely to resume alcohol consumption after OLT, but it may identify patients in whom there will exist a variety of poor outcome variables. In our study, in these patients, post-OLT survival was associated with medical rather than alcohol history variables.

Orthotopic liver transplantation in high-risk patients: risk factors associated with mortality and infectious morbidity

BACKGROUND

One of the most controversial areas in patient selection and donor allocation is the high-risk patient. Risk factors for mortality and major infectious morbidity were prospectively analyzed in consecutive United States veterans undergoing liver transplantation under primary tacrolimus-based immunosuppression.

METHODS

Twenty-eight pre-liver transplant, operative, and posttransplant risk factors were examined univariately and multivariately in 140 consecutive liver transplants in 130 veterans (98% male; mean age, 47.3 years).

RESULTS

Eighty-two percent of the patients had postnecrotic cirrhosis due to viral hepatitis or ethanol (20% ethanol alone), and only 12% had cholestatic liver disease. Ninety-eight percent of the patients were hospitalized at the time of transplantation (66% United Network for Organ Sharing [UNOS] 2, 32% UNOS 1). Major bacterial infection, posttransplant dialysis, additional immunosuppression, readmission to intensive care unit (P=0.0001 for all), major fungal infection, posttransplant abdominal surgery, posttransplant intensive care unit stay length of stay (P<0.005 for all), donor age, pretransplant dialysis, and creatinine (P<0.05 for all) were significantly associated with mortality by univariate analysis. Underlying liver disease, cytomegalovirus infection and disease, portal vein thrombosis, UNOS status, Childs-Pugh score, patient age, pretransplant bilirubin, ischemia time, and operative blood loss were not significant predictors of mortality. Patients with hepatitis C (HCV) and recurrent HCV had a trend towards higher mortality (P=0.18). By multivariate analysis, donor age, any major infection, additional immunosuppression, posttransplant dialysis, and subsequent transplantation were significant independent predictors of mortality (P<0.05). Major infectious morbidity was associated with HCV recurrence (P=0.003), posttransplant dialysis (P=0.0001), pretransplant creatinine, donor age, median blood loss, intensive care unit length of stay, additional immunosuppression, and biopsy-proven rejection (P<0.05 for all). By multivariate analysis, intensive care unit length of stay and additional immunosuppression were significant independent predictors of infectious morbidity (P<0.03). HCV recurrence was of borderline significance (P=0.07).

CONCLUSIONS

Biologic and physiologic parameters appear to be more powerful predictors of mortality and morbidity after liver transplantation. Both donor and recipient variables need to be considered for early and late outcome analysis and risk assessment modeling.