title: Neurologic complications in adult living donor liver transplant recipients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neurologic complications (NC) after liver transplantation are not uncommon, with serious complications such as central pontine myelinolysis (CPM), often causing disability.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the incidence and features of NC following liver transplantation in adult recipients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 319 adult patients who underwent liver transplantation between January 2004 and May 2005 at the Asan Medical Center.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Neurologic complications developed in 49 of 319 patients (15.4%). Although most of these complications were minor, including tremor and foot drop, three patients developed CPM, and one each developed posterior leukoencephalopathy, cerebral hemorrhage, and cerebral infarction. One-yr survival rates were 95.9% in patients without NC and 83.7% in patients with NC (p = 0.004). Hospital stay was prolonged in patients with NC. Graft-to-recipient body weight ratio (GRWR) did not affect occurrence of NC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neurologic complications were not uncommon in liver transplant recipients. These complications contributed to prolongation of hospital stay, increased in-hospital mortality, and decreased graft and patient survival. Every effort should be made to prevent NC, as well as to detect and treat them as soon as possible.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Bum-Soo
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung-Gyu
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Shin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Kwang-Min
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Ki-Hun
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chul-Soo
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Deok-Bog
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Tae-Yong
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Gi-Won
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Dong-Sik
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ki-Myung
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Moon
authors.forename: Dong-Hwan
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Jung
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D019520:Living Donors; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate