title: Causes of mortality after liver transplantation: a single center experience in mainland china.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the causes of death, both in the short- and long-term after cadaveric liver transplantation (LT) from a single center in mainland China.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical data of 472 adult patients who underwent primary cadaveric LT from February 1999 to December 2009 at our center were identified. All patients were followed-up until December 2010. Mortalities in three periods were described: the postoperative mortality (within the first 90 postoperative days or more if the patient remained hospitalized); the early mortality (death between 4-12 months after transplantation); the late mortality (death after one year following transplantation).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The survival of the 472 patients at 3 months, 1, 3 and 5 years was 85.2%, 73.5%, 61.2% and 59.7%, respectively. The postoperative mortality, the early mortality and the late mortality were 34.8% (70/201), 27.4% (55/201) and 37.8% (76/201), respectively. Infection, multi-organ failure and technical complications were the major causes of death during the first period, and the recurrence of malignancy was the main cause of death during the early and late periods after LT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recurrence of malignancy was the major cause of the early and late mortality in our study, which is higher than that of other reports. The serious preoperative condition of the recipient, the waiting timing for the operation and the tumor selection criteria for LT may account for this.
authors.affiliation: Department of Liver and Vasclar Surgery, Sichuan university, Chengdu, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ming-Qing
authors.initials: MQ
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Lu-Nan
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Tian-Fu
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Wen-Tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009102:Multiple Organ Failure / Q000401:mortality; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000401:mortality; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000401:mortality*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult