Liver transplantation in patients with atrial fibrillation

In this study we described survival and incidence of perioperative and postoperative complications in liver transplant recipients with known atrial fibrillation. A total number of 717 patients underwent liver transplantation between January 2005 and December 2008 at our institution. In this population, preoperative paroxysmal or chronic-persistent atrial fibrillation was diagnosed in 32 patients (4.5%). Of these, 12 patients died during follow-up and 4 patients required liver retransplantation. Perioperative cardiac complications occurred in 10 patients (31%) resulting in 3 cardiac-related deaths. Median patient survival was 1613 days (range, 22-2492) and median graft survival was 1524 days (range, 10-2492). Twenty patients are still alive with a median survival of 1861 days (range, 1189-2492) after liver transplantation.