title: Liver retransplantation: report of 80 cases and review of literature.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Because the orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) was performed widely in recent 5 years throughout China, the proportion of recipients whose graft function deteriorated to be retransplantation candidates increased gradually. This study was undertaken to analyze clinical experience of orthotopic liver retransplantation (re-OLT) at our center.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of 80 patients who had undergone liver retransplantation at our center from January 1999 to July 2005 were analyzed retrospectively, including indications and timing of retransplantation, surgical techniques, and the causes of death.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The commonest cause leading to hepatic graft loss and subsequent retransplantation was biliary complications in 36 patients (45%). The patients underwent retransplantation more than 30 days after their primary transplant recovered better than those who underwent retransplantation within 8-30 days after primary transplantation (perioperative mortality 19.6% versus 70%). Sepsis (12 of 22 patients, 54.5%) and multiple organ failure (4 of 22 patients, 18.2%) were leading causes of re-OLT recipient deaths.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Proper indications and optimal operative time, surgical procedures, perioperative monitoring and appropriate postoperative treatment contribute to the improvement of the survival rate of patients after liver retransplantation.
authors.affiliation: Orient Organ Transplant Center, First Central Hospital, Tianjin 300192, China. shenzy@ootc.net.
authors.forename: Zhong-Yang
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Zhi-Jun
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Yong-Lin
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Ya-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Wen-Tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Jian-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D002681:China; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012086:Reoperation / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015996:Survival Rate; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous