Paracentesis outcomes from a medicine procedure service at a tertiary care transplant center

Paracentesis is a commonly performed procedure with overall low complication rates. There is a paucity of modern data investigating outcomes for inpatients using standardized point of care ultrasound.

We aimed to evaluate complication rates and outcomes of paracentesis in patients in the inpatient setting of a large tertiary transplantation center.

We identified patients with ascites of multiple etiologies undergoing paracentesis by a medicine procedure service at a university center. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify clinical and demographic factors associated with kidney injury (AKI) or significant HGB drop (≥2 g/dL).

Of 1746 patients, 12% of patients receiving small volume (≤5 L) and 10% receiving large volume paracentesis (>5 L) developed a post procedural AKI (OR 0.857, 95% CI: 0.633-1.154) with no significant difference between groups (p = .30). In multivariable analysis, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease Sodium (MELD-Na) score as a continuous variable had a more significant impact in the development of AKI (OR 1.15 CI 1.08-1.22, p < .001) as well as patients who were noted to be receiving paracentesis due to clinical deterioration (OR 2.48 CI 1.08-5.7, p < .03). Of 2034 patients, 94% of patients had no significant drop in hemoglobin (<2 g/dL). There was no significant difference in BMI (12.73 vs. 16.68, p = .6), INR (1.6 vs. 1.6, p = .8), or platelet count (114 vs. 106, p > .9) between groups.

Regardless of volume of ascites removed, paracentesis is associated with a low risk of AKI, however there was an increased risk in the clinically decompensating patient. The bleeding risk was also found to be low when performed by experienced proceduralists on a procedure service.