Liver disease complicating bone marrow transplantation: a clinical audit

Hepatic dysfunction following bone marrow transplantation (BMT) may present complex management issues. The incidence and aetiology of abnormal liver function following allogeneic and autologous BMT was reviewed over a 2 year period in Royal Perth Hospital and these findings were related to management decisions and patient outcome. Abnormal serum liver biochemistry during the first 12 post-transplant months occurred in all allogeneic (n = 31) and 14 of 23 (61%) autologous transplant patients; 13 (41%) allogeneic and three (13%) autologous patients developed severe hepatic dysfunction. In allogeneic transplants, the most common causes of liver disease were graft-versus-host disease (33%), drug hepatotoxicity (19%) and posttransplant viral hepatitis (15%); in autologous patients, disease recurrence (28%) and sepsis (17%) were the most frequent identifiable cause of abnormal liver function. The aetiology of abnormal liver biochemistry was not determined in 13 instances, but this did not adversely affect patient outcome. Percutaneous liver biopsy or endoscopic cholangiography were only required in three patients. Liver disease contributed to death in two allogeneic patients with multiple causes for liver dysfunction, and in one patient with refractory severe hepatic graft-versus-host disease. It was concluded that hepatic dysfunction is common after BMT, the cause of which can be determined in many cases with simple non-invasive tests used in conjunction with the clinical setting. Specific treatment, where necessary, is then able to be commenced in a majority of patients without the need for invasive investigation.