Factors Influencing Mortality Following Liver Transplant in Acute Liver Failure: A Single Center Experience

In irreversible acute liver failure, liver transplant is the only viable treatment option. In this study, our aim was to evaluate and determine the factors related to mortality in patients who received liver transplants in accordance with King's College criteria for acute liver failure in order to prevent futile operations.

Our study included 65 adult patients with acute liver failure who received liver transplant according to King's College criteria. Factors related to mortality, including demographic and operative data, causes of acute liver failure, severity of encephalopathy, and laboratory data, were retrospectively analyzed. Patients who received living-donor liver grafts had donations from first-degree to fourth-degree relatives.

Of 65 patients analyzed, 55.3% were women. Ninety-day mortality rate was 36.9%. Preoperative bilirubin levels in survivor and nonsurvivor groups were 16.3 ± 9.6 and 21.3 ± 10.7 mg/dL, respectively (P = .03). Mortality rates of patients with bilirubin above and below 9 mg/dL were 31.8% and 8.3%, respectively (P = .03). Of patients who died, 75% were women (significantly more women than men, P = .015). Patients who had deceased-donor liver transplants had a significantly higher mortality rate than those who had living-donor liver transplants (52% vs 27.5% ; P = .046). At 3 days posttransplant, bilirubin, creatinine, aspartate aminotransferase, phosphorus, sodium, and ammonia levels were significantly different between survivor and nonsurvivor groups (P < .05).

We found living-donor liver transplant to be superior versus deceased-donor liver transplant with regard to development of acute liver failure. Reasons could include the long wait period for deceased donors and liver grafts coming from marginal donors. Bilirubin level and presence of grade 4 encephalopathy had predictive values for poor prognosis of patients.