title: Neurological complications prevalence and long-term survival after liver transplantation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neurological postsurgical complications are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality occur in transplant recipients impacting their survival.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed the medical records of 269 patients who underwent transplantation between 2000 and 2011, after application of the exclusion criteria Neurological complications were examined according to the period in which they appeared: immediate (1-30 day) early (31-180 days), and late (after 180 days). The survival analysis was based on the first complication.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of transplant recipients were males (73.2%) and white (97.1%) with an overall median age of 49 (range, 18-73) years. Regarding the etiology for transplantation, the most common causes were hepatitis C virus (56.5%) and alcohol (33.1%). Complications, appearing in 29.4% (immediate), 31.5% (early), and 39.1% (late) cases, were encephalopathy, confusion, tremors, headache, and stroke. Patients who had the first complication between 1 and 6 months showed greater mortality than those who had one after 6 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neurological complications led to longer hospital stays with greater early morbidity and mortality. Knowledge of these complications appears to be extremely important for the multidisciplinary transplantation team to decrease its prevalence as well as to diagnose and treat early.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Liver Transplantation, State University of Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Colombari
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: de Ataíde
authors.forename: E Y
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Udo
authors.forename: A L E
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Falcão
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: I F S F
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Boin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013534:Survival; D055815:Young Adult