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Pretransplantation clinical status and outcome of emergency transplantation for acute liver failure
Author(s) -
Devlin John,
Wendon Julia,
Heaton Nigel,
Tan KaiChah,
Williams Roger
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.1840210420
Subject(s) - medicine , liver transplantation , transplantation , fulminant hepatic failure , creatinine , univariate analysis , proportional hazards model , surgery , logistic regression , hepatic encephalopathy , multivariate analysis , cirrhosis
Emergency transplantation for acute liver failure has a significantly inferior outcome than transplantations performed for elective indications. The severity of the pretransplantation clinical illness in this group will contribute to the reduced patient survival. We have reviewed the outcome of our first 100 consecutive adult patients who received transplants for acute liver failure and have evaluated and determined which recipient clinical parameters present on admission and at transplantation act as risk factors in early posttransplantation outcome. In patients who received transplants for nonacetaminophen‐induced liver failure (n = 79), no static variable determinable on admission (including age, sex, year of transplantation, hospital admission to transplantation period, and fulminant or late‐onset presentation) other than cause was predictive of 2‐month patient survival. Fulminant Wilson's disease and idiosyncratic drug reactions with 2‐month survival rates of 100% and 12.5%, respectively, had significantly different outcomes from other causes. By the time of transplantation, of four dynamic variables significant in a univariate analysis (serum creatinine, encephalopathy grade, Apache 111 and organ system failure scores, and P values < .05), only the creatinine level was an independent variable in a stepwise logistic regression for 2‐month survival ( r = .33). In patients who received transplants for acetaminophen hepatotoxicity (n = 21), overdose to hepatectomy period was the only significant static variable, with no parameter predictive of outcome present on admission. Of two dynamic variables that were significant at transplantation (serum bilirubin and Apache 111 score, P < .05) only the latter parameter was an independent variable in the regression model ( r = .51). Selection of candidates experiencing acute liver failure for transplantation depends on assessment of both the prognosis of the primary hepatic illness on admission and, for a successful outcome, the clinical status at the time of proposed grafting. (H EPATOLOGY 1995; 21:1018–1024.)