ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To identify prognostic factors for survival at 6 and 12 months in patients evaluated for liver transplantation using Child-Pugh (CP) classification and the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score. METHODS: We evaluated 144 patients with cirrhosis who were candidates for liver transplantation. We excluded patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, recent liver recipients, and patients who died because of factors unrelated to liver disease. The studied variables were age and sex; prothrombin time; platelet count; albumin, cholesterol, bilirubin, creatinine, and serum sodium concentrations; CP classification and MELD score; and the presence of ascites, encephalopathy, hepatorenal syndrome, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, and previous variceal bleeding. Data were processed using statistical software (SPSS version 13.0). RESULTS: Of the 144 patients, 27 (18.7%) did not survive because of complications of liver disease. Univariate analysis showed the most significant factors to be sex, prothrombin time, bilirubin and albumin levels; ascites, encephalopathy, CP classification, and MELD score. At Cox regression analysis, only CP classification proved to be a valid predictor of survival in our cohort. The lowest survival according to CP classification at 6 and 12 months corresponded to stage C and to MELD scores higher than 15. CONCLUSIONS: Child-Pugh classification is an independent prognostic factor for recipient survival. Stage C in the CP classification and a MELD score higher than 15 were strongly related to worse survival. Both scores must be taken into consideration for adequate evaluation of liver transplantation for candidates.
