Utility of Oral Anticoagulants as Prophylaxis of Recurrent Portal Thrombosis after Liver Transplantation.

INTRODUCTION: Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a relatively common finding in patients undergoing liver transplantation. Although the recommendation to prevent its recurrence is anticoagulation for a duration of 3 to 6 months, this is controversial. AIM: The aim of our study was to determine the efficacy of oral anticoagulants (OAC) as prophylaxis for recurrent PVT after liver transplantation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our study included 215 liver transplant patients who underwent surgery in our center from January 2012 to August 2017. We selected all patients diagnosed with PVT either pre-transplantation (using Doppler echography or Angio-CT) or during transplant surgery. All patients with PVT were initially anticoagulated with low-molecular-weight heparin in the postoperative period; at discharge they received OAC for a duration of six months. Control Doppler ultrasound was performed at 3, 6, and 12 months post-transplantation. RESULTS: PVT was identified in 37 out of 215 patients (17.2%). PVT was diagnosed with a pre-transplant vascular study in 17 out of 37 cases (45.9%). All patients were anticoagulated with OAC (warfarin) for at least 6 months. There were no cases of recurrent thrombosis and no complications associated with anticoagulant treatment throughout the follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of portal thrombosis in liver transplant patients in our study was fairly high, at 17.2%. PVT was identified in nearly 50% of patients using high-quality vascular studies prior to transplant surgery. Anticoagulation with OAC for 6 months was effective in preventing a recurrence of thrombosis and there were no associated complications.

Efficacy of Direct-acting Antivirals to Improve Clinical Condition, Fibrosis, and Liver Function in Liver Transplant Recipients Infected by Hepatitis C.

BACKGROUND: Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) have revolutionized the treatment of hepatitis C, including transplant recipients with an advanced fibrosis stage. Our aim in this study was to assess the clinical and functional benefits and improvement in liver fibrosis after treatment with DAAs in liver transplant recipients with chronic hepatitis C virus who achieved sustained virologic response (SVR). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 42 patients who underwent liver transplantation (LT) at our institution and were treated with DAAs from June 2014 to December 2015. Two patients died, so we ultimately included 40 transplant patients with chronic hepatitis C who received DAAs and achieved SVR. We assessed liver function, fibrosis stage, and clinical features at the start of the treatment, and then at 6 and 12 months after SVR. The indication for LT was hepatocellular carcinoma in 8 patients (20%) and Child-Pugh score B/C in 32 patients (80%). RESULTS: The DAAs regimens were sofosbuvir plus daclatasvir (45.0%), simeprevir plus sofosbuvir (42.5%), sofosbuvir plus ledipasvir (7.5%), and ombitasvir/paritaprevir/ritonavir (5%). The mean Modified End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score pretreatment was 10.78, and was 8.46 at 1 year after treatment (P < .05). In addition, fibrosis stage decreased significantly from 14.81 kPa to 9.07 kPa (FibroScan) at 12 months after SVR. Clinically, there was a significant improvement, including control of ascites and chronic hepatic encephalopathy. CONCLUSION: DAAs were used successfully in the treatment of hepatitis C after orthotopic liver transplantation and resulted in significant improvement in liver function as measured by MELD score, fibrosis level, and cirrhotic clinical condition, even in patients with very advanced disease.

Metabolic Syndrome After Liver Transplantation: Five-Year Prevalence and Risk Factors.

Survival after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) has increased over the last decades, focusing on the metabolic complications that contribute to patient morbidity and mortality. The aim of our study was to describe the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS), its components, and its associated factors in patients who underwent OLT in a hospital in Spain. From November 2001 to January 2014, we performed 415 transplantations in 386 patients. We analyzed 204 patients with a minimum follow-up of 1 year (77.6% were male and the mean age was 54.2+/-9.5 years). The most frequent etiology was alcohol (41%), followed by hepatitis C virus (29.1%). The indication was decompensated cirrhosis in 51.8% and hepatocellular carcinoma in 34%. According to modified National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel-III (NCEP-ATP III) criteria, 5 years post-transplantation MS was diagnosed in 38.2% of patients. Significant independent predictors of post-transplantation MS on logistic regression analysis were as follows: pretransplantation obesity (odds ratio [OR], 3.09; P = .056), 1-year post-transplantation obesity (OR, 3.95; P = .009), pretransplantation diabetes (OR, 4.63; P = .001), 1-year post-transplantation diabetes (OR, 3.01; P = .015), 1-year post-transplantation hypertension (OR, 1.85; P = .176), and hypertriglyceridemia at the first year after transplantation (OR, 2.32; P = .063). In our center the prevalence of MS at 5 years after OLT is slightly lower than published. The most important risk factors were obesity and diabetes (both pretransplantation and the first year post-transplantation).

Cutaneous mucormycosis infection by Absidia in two consecutive liver transplant patients.

Mucormycosis, although an infrequent fungal infection, has a high mortality in patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation. We present two cases of cutaneous Absidia mucormycosis in two successive patients undergoing liver transplantation in our hospital. In our literature search, we encountered only one published case of Absidia infection in liver transplantation.