| 19951576 |
Yi HM, Wang GS, Yi SH, Yang Y, Cai CJ, Chen GH: Prospective evaluation of postoperative outcome after liver transplantation in hepatopulmonary syndrome patients. Chin Med J. 2009 Nov 5;122(21):2598-602.
BACKGROUND: Only a few reviews of small case series and individual case reports including a relatively small number of adult patients undergoing liver transplantation for hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) are available, and there has been no prospective evaluation of the long-term outcome of HPS patients after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of HPS in OLT patients with chronic end-stage liver-disease, and the short-term and long-term postoperative outcome of HPS patients after OLT. METHODS: This prospective study included 31 HPS and 30 control, non-HPS patients. The preoperative conditions were similar between the two groups. Twenty-six of 31 HPS patients and all of the non-HPS patients underwent OLT. Standardized methods, such as arterial blood gas at room air and 99m-technetium macroaggregated albumin ((99m) Tc MAA) lung and brain perfusion scanning were performed for the diagnosis of HPS. Patients were followed after OLT. RESULTS: The incidence of HPS in OLT patients was 9.3% (26/279). Hypoxemia in HPS was obviously improved with a normalized shunt of (99m) Tc MAA in the lungs after OLT. The immediate postoperative survival rate (within 28 days after OLT) of HPS was 76.9% (20/26). The one year survival was 61.5% (16/26) and four-year survival was 57.7% (15/26); much higher than HPS patients without OLT (0). But high postoperative morbidity and mortality were observed in HPS patients whose death occurred within 3 months of OLT due to complications summarized in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Liver transplantation was an effective treatment for HPS. But the postoperative mortality rate following OLT in HPS patients was still much higher than that of patients without HPS. |
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