Factors Associated with Prolonged Recipient Hepatectomy Time During Liver Transplantation: A Single-Centre Experience

Recipient hepatectomy during liver transplantation can be a challenging operation and can increase cold ischaemic time. The aim of this study is to assess factors associated with prolonged recipient hepatectomy.

From 2005 to 2015, 930 patients were submitted to liver transplantation in our hospital. Prolonged hepatectomy time was defined as operative time >180 min (from knife on skin to total hepatectomy). Patients undergoing early liver retransplantation and living donation were excluded.

A total of 715 patients were included in our study. Median age at transplantation was 53 (18-70) years, and median BMI was 26.2 (16-40). Median hepatectomy time was 131 min. Prolonged hepatectomy time occurred in 89 (12.4%) patients. At univariate analysis, previous decompensated cirrhosis with variceal bleeding and/or ascites, higher BMI and previous abdominal surgery were associated with prolonged operating time. Higher surgeon experience and acute liver failure were associated with shorter hepatectomy time. At multivariate analysis, previous episodes of variceal bleeding (p = 0.027, OR 1.78), BMI > 27 (p = 0.01, OR 1.75), previous abdominal surgery (p = 0.04, OR 1.68) and surgeon experience (p = 0.007, OR 2.04) were independently associated with operating time. Prolonged hepatectomy time was significantly associated with cold and total ischaemic time and intraoperative bleeding (p < 0.001, p = 0.002 and p = 0.002, respectively).

Recipient BMI, previous episodes of variceal bleeding, previous abdominal surgery and surgeon experience are independently associated with hepatectomy duration. These factors can be helpful to identify those patients with potentially prolonged hepatectomy time, and therefore, strategies can be put in place to optimize outcomes in this group of patients.