The Impact of Postreperfusion Syndrome on Acute Kidney Injury in Living Donor Liver Transplantation: A Propensity Score Analysis.

BACKGROUND

Postreperfusion syndrome (PRS) has been shown to be related to postoperative morbidity and graft failure in orthotopic liver transplantation. To date, little is known about the impact of PRS on the prevalence of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) and the postoperative outcomes after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). The purpose of our study was to determine the impact of PRS on AKI and postoperative outcomes after LDLT surgery.

METHODS

Between January 2008 and October 2015, we retrospectively collected and evaluated the records of 1865 patients who underwent LDLT surgery. We divided the patients into 2 groups according to the development of PRS: PRS group (n = 715) versus no PRS group (n = 1150). Risk factors for AKI and mortality were investigated by multivariable logistic and Cox proportional hazards regression model analysis. Propensity score (PS) analysis (PS matching and inverse probability of treatment weighting analysis) was designed to compare the outcomes between the 2 groups.

RESULTS

The prevalence of PRS and the mortality rate were 38% and 7%, respectively. In unadjusted analyses, the PRS group showed more frequent development of AKI (P < .001), longer hospital stay (P = .010), and higher incidence of intensive care unit stay over 7 days (P < .001) than the no PRS group. After PS matching and inverse probability of treatment weighting analysis, the PRS group showed a higher prevalence of postoperative AKI (P = .023 and P = .017, respectively) and renal dysfunction 3 months after LDLT (P = .036 and P = .006, respectively), and a higher incidence of intensive care unit stay over 7 days (P = .014 and P = .032, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrated that the magnitude and duration of hypotension caused by PRS is a factor contributing to the development of AKI and residual renal dysfunction 3 months after LDLT.