Is liver transplantation without abdominal drainage safe?

UNLABELLED: This observational, analytical cohort consisted of 35 consecutive liver transplant (OLT) patients with no intra-abdominal drain and a control cohort of 35 subjects operated immediately before the former who had placement of an intra-abdominal drain. We sought to assess the impact of abdominal drainage on the diagnosis and prevention of early postoperative complications: hemoperitoneum, reinterventions, biliary leaks, or percutaneous drainage. We assessed variables related to the recipient (age, indication, pretransplant ascites, body mass index, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score and rejection), the donor (age, steatosis, ischemia time) and intra- and postoperative factors (surgery time, blood product use, and coagulopathy). The end point was defined as the need for a reintervention, paracentesis, appearance, and drainage of collections as well as lengths of hospital and intensive care unit (ICU) stays. The postoperative ICU and in-hospital stays were similar between groups (3.7 vs 3.9 days and 12 vs 14 days, respectively). Two patients in the group with drainage were reoperated due to hemoperitoneum, whereas we did not reoperate any patients in the group without drainage. No patient from either group developed a biliary fistula or required drainage of an intra-abdominal collections. The need for paracentesis was greater among the group without drainage (23% vs 5.7%; P < .04) and among those with a prior history of severe ascites. Patients with drainage displayed a greater incidence of perihepatic hematomas by ultrasound (53% vs 21%; P < .08) and required more postoperative blood products, especially platelets (P > .04) and plasma (P < .01). CONCLUSION: OLT without intra-abdominal drainage is safe, not increasing morbidity. It seems likely that drainage may be responsible for intra-abdominal hematomas and greater consumption of blood products.

Influence of immunosuppression and effect of hepatitis C virus on new onset of diabetes mellitus in liver transplant recipients.

INTRODUCTION: New-onset posttransplantation diabetes mellitus (PTDM), with an incidence of 10% to 30%, increased graft and patient morbidity and mortality. Such causal factors as age, obesity, therapy, immunosuppression, and hepatitis C virus (HCV) contribute to this disease. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the incidence of PTDM and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) concentration in transplant recipients to define the causal variables. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 127 patients. Patients with pretransplantation diabetes and those with less than 6 months of follow-up were excluded. A descriptive observational study to assess the association between PTDM and IFG and the immunosuppression therapy used was performed by monitoring the potential confounding variables of age, obesity, and HCV. RESULTS: During mean follow-up of 73.7 months (range, 7-120 mo), 93 patients received cyclosporine A (CyA) and 34 received tacrolimus (Tac) therapy. Thirty patients (23.6%) developed PTDM or IFG including 15 (16%; PTDM, six IFG, nine) in the CyA group and 15 (PTDM, seven; IFG, eight) in the Tacrolimus group (P = .001; odds ratio [OR], 4.1). They were homogeneous with respect to confounding variables except for HCV (P = .01). Of the 55 patients with HCV infection, 12 developed PTDM or IFG, including three in the CyA group and nine in the tacrolimus group (P = .03; OR, 7.7), whereas in the 72 patients without HCV infection, the CyA or tacrolimus association with PTDM or IFG was significant (P = .05), Mantel-Haenszel test; OR, 4.9). The interaction between HCV and immunosuppression therapy was primarily produced in the IFG group (HCV-positive; P = .008; OR, 8). CONCLUSION: We observed an association between the use of tacrolimus and the development of PTDM or IFG. There is greater risk in HCV-positive patients, in particular in relation to IFG. The choice of immunosuppressive treatment might be decided on the basis of the patient's pretransplantation status.