[Pathologic diagnosis of 1123 post-transplant liver biopsies from 665 liver transplant patients].
OBJECTIVE
To summarize the Chinese experience in pathologic diagnosis of liver biopsies after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLTx).


METHODS
1123 post-transplant liver biopsies from 665 OLTx patients from the Shanghai Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, Tianjin First Central Hospital, Guangzhou Sun Yat-sen University and Chongqing Southwest Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. All liver biopsies were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Immunohistochemical studies for cytomegalovirus, HBsAg, CK19, CD4 and CD8 were also performed in selected examples.


RESULTS
In the involved hospitals, 4 to 12 types of complications were encountered after OLTx. The number of liver biopsies performed for each patient ranged from 1 to 9 (mean = 2.2). The timing of these biopsies varied from the second to the 2877 th post-transplant day. The 5 most common complications were acute cellular rejection (35.6%), ischemic-reperfusion injury (13.4%), biliary stricture (5.6%), drug complication (5.0%) and chronic rejection (4.7%). The 5 earliest complications after OLTx were primary non-function (occurring at day 4.7 +/- 2.1), ischemic-reperfusion injury (occurring at day 14.0 +/- 4.0), acute cellular rejection (occurring at day 32.1 +/- 62.9), hepatic artery thrombosis / stricture (occurring at day 62.9 +/- 74.2) and cytomegalovirus infection (occurring at day 107.7 +/- 93.0).


CONCLUSIONS
This study has evaluated the types, incidence and timing of major complications occurring after OLTx. The most important issue is the distinction between rejection and non-rejection pathology. Thorough understanding of atypical pathologic features of these complications is necessary. The Banff Schema (rejection activity index) for grading liver allograft rejection is useful for monitoring anti-rejection therapy and should be used routinely.
Department of Pathology, Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, The Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China. wmcong@smmu.edu.cn
Wen-Ming
WM
Cong
Shu-Ying
SY
Zhang
Zheng-Lu
ZL
Wang
Ling
L
Xue
You-Sheng
YS
Liu
Shu-Hui
SH
Zhang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002780:Cholestasis, Intrahepatic / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000473:pathology*; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000473:pathology*; D015427:Reperfusion Injury / Q000473:pathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000473:pathology