The outcomes of thrombotic microangiopathy after liver transplantation: A nationwide survey in Japan.

BACKGROUND

Although thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) is recognized as one of the poor-prognosis factors after liver transplantation, the precise outcome of TMA is unclear. We sought to elucidate the factors affecting the outcome of TMA after liver transplantation in Japan, based on the data from a nationwide survey.

METHODS

One hundred cases of post-transplant TMA were accumulated from 17 Japanese centers of which two cases were excluded because the cause of death was obviously not related to TMA (recurrence of original diseases as primary sclerosing cholangitis and hepatocellular carcinoma), and the remaining 98 cases were enrolled in this study. The patient survival after the development of TMA and the factors that affected the patients' outcomes were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS

All cases were living-donor liver transplant cases, and the 1-, 3-, and 5-year patient survival rates after transplantation were 66.9%, 64.6%, and 62.2%, respectively. In a multivariate analysis, the requirement of renal replacement therapy during TMA treatment was the only factor that was significantly related to poor outcome after the development of TMA.

CONCLUSION

The outcomes of TMA were generally poor. The progression of renal dysfunction despite intensive treatment might be the only factor related to the poor prognosis after the development of TMA.