title: Early postoperative complications of pediatric liver transplantation: experience at one center.
abstract: To evaluate the postoperative complications within the first month among 20 pediatric liver transplant recipients between April 1990 and March 2003 we retrospectively studied their medical charts to gather demographic data; primary diagnosis; operative duration; perioperative transfusions; time to extubation; length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay; mortality; perioperative laboratory values; and postoperative complications including respiratory, infections, renal, neurological, cardiovascular, and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) complications. Ten male and ten female patients of mean age 8 +/- 4 years had a mean operative duration, time to extubation, and length of stay in the ICU of 12.1 +/- 2.3 hours, 11.1 +/- 15.0 hours, and 7.2 +/- 5.5 days, respectively. The most frequent postoperative complication was respiratory (n = 14, 70%), followed by infections (n = 13, 65%), renal (n = 8, 40%), neurological (n = 7, 35%), cardiovascular (n = 4, 20%), and GIT (n = 4, 20%) infections. The overall mortality rate was 25% (n = 5). Compared with patients who survived, those who died displayed significantly lower perioperative platelet counts (P <.05), as well as a significantly higher incidence of postoperative neurological disorders (P =.031), and cardiovascular complications (P =.032).
authors.affiliation: Başkent University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Araz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pirat
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Torgay
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zeyneloglu
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arslan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000453:epidemiology; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000453:epidemiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D011654:Pulmonary Edema / Q000453:epidemiology; D012131:Respiratory Insufficiency / Q000453:epidemiology; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors