Postoperative Meld-Lactate and Isolated Lactate Values As Outcome Predictors Following Orthotopic Liver

Sang Kim1, Jeron Zerillo, Parissa Tabrizian

  • 1*Department of Anesthesiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York †Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York ‡Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York §Anesthesiology Institute, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Weston, Florida.

Shock (Augusta, Ga.)
|January 27, 2017
PubMed

Insights

The MELD-Lactate score, incorporating lactate levels, shows improved prediction of mortality after liver transplantation compared to MELD and MELD-Sodium scores. Postoperative lactate alone also offers moderate predictive value for patient survival.

Area of Science:

  • Hepatology
  • Transplant Surgery
  • Critical Care Medicine

Background:

  • The Model for End Stage Liver (MELD) score is established for predicting pretransplant mortality but shows inconsistent utility for postoperative outcomes.
  • MELD-Lactate models have emerged as potentially better predictors of short-term survival post-liver transplant.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the predictive accuracy of MELD-Lactate, MELD, MELD-Sodium, and initial postoperative lactate for 30-day and in-hospital mortality after liver transplantation.
  • To evaluate a newly derived Mount Sinai MELD-Lactate score against existing models.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective analysis of 989 adult patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplant from 2002 to 2013.
  • Comparison of predictive performance using c-statistics for various models including MELD-Lactate, MELD, MELD-Sodium, and initial postoperative lactate.
  • Validation of models using cross-validation and bootstrap methods.

Main Results:

  • The Mount Sinai MELD-Lactate model demonstrated the highest c-statistic (0.749) for predicting 30-day survival, followed by MELD-Lactate (0.740) and initial lactate (0.729).
  • For in-hospital mortality, the original MELD-Lactate model showed a slightly higher c-statistic (0.739) than the Mount Sinai MELD-Lactate model (0.734).
  • Postoperative MELD-Lactate and isolated postoperative lactate values were found to be moderately predictive of both 30-day and in-hospital mortality.

Conclusions:

  • MELD-Lactate models and initial postoperative lactate levels offer improved prediction of mortality following liver transplantation compared to traditional MELD and MELD-Sodium scores.
  • These lactate-based models provide valuable prognostic information for short-term outcomes in liver transplant recipients.

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