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.

PATIENTS AND 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.