Early major neurologic complications after lung transplantation: incidence, risk factors, and outcome

Early major neurologic complications after lung transplantation represent a major source of morbidity for patients and compromise their quality of life; however, the mechanisms underlying neurologic complications and their impact on outcomes in lung transplantation remain largely unknown.

Patients who received lung transplants at our institution between January 2004 and December 2010 were identified (n=759). Data on complications including occurrence, timing, management, and outcome were extracted from our transplant database and medical record review. Major neurologic complications were defined as those that were potentially life threatening, required urgent treatment/intubation, or required admission to the intensive care unit.

Seventy (9.2%) patients experienced major neurologic complications within 2 weeks after lung transplantation. Most common complications were stroke (41%) and severe toxic/metabolic encephalopathy (37%). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that advanced age, history of coronary artery disease, prolonged use of cardiopulmonary bypass, and severe primary graft dysfunction increased the risk for death in patients with early major neurologic complications (P<0.05). There was a significant difference in survival between patients with neurologic complications and without (90-day mortality: 15% of patients who developed neurologic complications versus 4% of patients who did not; P=0.03; 5-year survival: 51.1% in patients who developed neurologic complication versus 62.1% in patients who did not; P<0.05).

Early major neurologic complications after lung transplantation are common and carry substantial morbidity and mortality. Given the risk factors identified in this study, additional pretransplantation workup and intraoperative and postoperative monitoring for high-risk patients may help reduce the incidence of neurologic complications.