Dysfunction in Patients With Small-for-Size Grafts After Living Donor Liver Transplantation

Abstract

The relationship between postoperative percentage fall of platelet (PLT) counts and graft dysfunction after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in recipients with small-forsize (SFS) graft has not been fully evaluated. We retrospectively studied 50 adult-to-adult LDLT recipients with a graft-to-recipient weight ratio of <0.8% between 1999 and 2011. Graft dysfunction was defined as the presence of hyperbilirubinemia, coagulopathy, or ascites on 3 consecutive days during the first postoperative week. Each clinical sign of dysfunction was assigned 1 point. Postoperative percentage fall in PLT counts, graft dysfunction score, and postoperative complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification were investigated. Overall, 31 patients (62%) exhibited a PLT count fall of more than 50%, and 19 (38%) patients exhibited a PLT count fall of less than 50% at postoperative day (POD) 3. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that at POD 3, the cutoff value of PLTcount fall was 56% for a graft dysfunction score of 2 or 3 (sensitivity, 70%; specificity, 63.3%). Fourteen of 20 patients (70%) with a dysfunction score of 2 or 3 and 11 of 30 patients (37%) with a dysfunction score of 0 or 1 showed a fall in PLTcount >56% at POD 3 (P = 0.021). Grade 2 to 5 complications were more observed in patients with a dysfunction score of 2 or 3 than in patients with a dysfunction score of 0 or 1 (P < 0.001). The fall of PLT count at POD 3.56% is an ominous sign that can predict the graft dysfunction after LDLT in recipients with SFS graft.