Research Article

Long-Term Outcomes of Recipients of Liver Transplants from Living Donors Treated with a Very Low-Calorie Diet

Table 3

Recipient outcomes.

n = 199Non-VLCD recipient n = 165VLCD recipient n = 34P value

Peritransplantation period
 Cold ischemia time (minutes), median (IQR)114 (76–163)83 (56.5–152)0.2
 Warm ischemia time (minutes), median (IQR)47.5 (39.5–61)46.5 (41–62)0.9
 Duration of surgery (minutes), median (IQR)557.5 (480–650)508.5 (435–600)0.09
 Graft-to-recipient weight ratio, median (IQR)1.1 (1–1.4)1.3 (1–1.7)0.04
Post-liver transplant period
 Peak AST post-LT (IU/L), median (IQR)552 (300–920)419 (238–718)0.3
 Peak ALT post-LT (IU/L), median (IQR)624 (357–946)525 (308–745)0.3
 Peak total bilirubin post-LT (μmol/L), median (IQR)110 (73–174)118 (73–156)0.9
 Peak INR post-LT, median (IQR)2.2 (1.7–2.6)1 (1–1.25)<0.01
 Any complications, n (%)38 (23%)11 (32.4%)0.3
 Biliary stricture, n (%)20 (12.1%)6 (17.7%)0.4
 Hepatic thrombosis, n (%)5 (3%)2 (5.9%)0.3
 Small-for-size syndrome, n (%)1 (0.6%)1 (2.9%)0.3
 Abdominal bleeding, n (%)6 (3.6%)0 (0%)0.6
 Need for surgical revision, n (%)3 (1.8%)0 (0)0.6
 Infection during hospital stay, n (%)9 (5.5%)2 (6.1%)1
 ICU admission, n (%)117 (70.9%)24 (70.6%)1
 ICU LOS (days), median (IQR)2 (1–4)2 (2–4)0.8
 Hospital LOS (days), median (IQR)13 (9–22)13 (9–24)0.8
 30-day mortality, n (%)1 (0.6%)1 (2.9%)0.3
 90-day mortality, n (%)3 (1.8%)1 (2.9%)0.5
 One-year mortality, n (%)7 (4.2%)1 (2.9%)0.6

AST, aspartate transaminase; ALT, alanine transaminase; ICU, intensive care unit; LOS, length of stay. Peak values are defined as the highest laboratory value in the first 5 days following the liver transplant. Any complications are defined as follows: hepatic thrombosis, abdominal bleeding, posttransplant infection, need for surgical revision, and small-for-size syndrome. The Mann–Whitney U test was used for continuous variables and the exact Fisher test for categorial variables.