Utz Melere M, Sanha V, Farina M, da Silva CS, Nader L, Trein C, Lucchese AM, Ferreira C, Kalil AN, Feier FH. Primary liver transplantation
vs transplant after Kasai portoenterostomy in children with biliary atresia: A retrospective Brazilian single-center cohort.
World J Transplant 2024;
14:88734. [PMID:
38576759 PMCID:
PMC10989469 DOI:
10.5500/wjt.v14.i1.88734]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Revised: 11/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 03/15/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Biliary atresia (BA) is the most common indication for pediatric liver trans plantation, although portoenterostomy is usually performed first. However, due to the high failure rate of portoenterostomy, liver transplantation has been advocated as the primary procedure for patients with BA. It is still unclear if a previous portoenterostomy has a negative impact on liver transplantation outcomes.
AIM
To investigate the effect of prior portoenterostomy in infants un dergoing liver transplantation for BA.
METHODS
This was a retrospective cohort study of 42 pediatric patients with BA who underwent primary liver transplantation from 2013 to 2023 at a single tertiary center in Brazil. Patients with BA were divided into two groups: Those under going primary liver transplantation without portoenterostomy and those undergoing liver transplantation with prior portoenterostomy. Continuous variables were compared using the Student's t-test or the Kruskal-Wallis test, and categorical variables were compared using the χ2 or Fisher's exact test, as appropriate. Multivariable Cox regression analysis was performed to determine risk factors for portal vein thrombosis. Patient and graft survival analyses were conducted with the Kaplan-Meier product-limit estimator, and patient subgroups were compared using the two-sided log-rank test.
RESULTS
Forty-two patients were included in the study (25 [60%] girls), 23 undergoing liver transplantation without prior portoenterostomy, and 19 undergoing liver transplantation with prior portoenterostomy. Patients with prior portoenterostomy were older (12 vs 8 months; P = 0.02) at the time of liver transplantation and had lower Pediatric End-Stage Liver Disease scores (13.2 vs 21.4; P = 0.01). The majority of the patients (35/42, 83%) underwent living-donor liver transplantation. The group of patients without prior portoenterostomy appeared to have a higher incidence of portal vein thrombosis (39 vs 11%), but this result did not reach statistical significance. Prior portoenterostomy was not a protective factor against portal vein thrombosis in the multivariable analysis after adjusting for age at liver transplantation, graft-to-recipient weight ratio, and use of vascular grafts. Finally, the groups did not significantly differ in terms of post-transplant survival.
CONCLUSION
In our study, prior portoenterostomy did not significantly affect the outcomes of liver transplantation.
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