Neurologic complications in adult living donor liver transplant recipients.
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.
Kim
Bum-Soo
BS
Division of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Lee
Sung-Gyu
SG
Hwang
Shin
S
Park
Kwang-Min
KM
Kim
Ki-Hun
KH
Ahn
Chul-Soo
CS
Moon
Deok-Bog
DB
Ha
Tae-Yong
TY
Song
Gi-Won
GW
Kim
Dong-Sik
DS
Moon
Ki-Myung
KM
Jung
Dong-Hwan
DH
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