Prolonged Length of Stay After Liver Transplantation

Abstract

Prolonged hospital length of stay after liver transplantation uses a large amount of hospital resources. The authors evaluated factors associated with prolonged hospital stay in a large single center series. Prolonged hospital stay was defined as more than 30 days. A total of 578 adult cadaveric liver transplants were included, and of these, 160 (27.7%) had a prolonged hospital stay. These patients had shorter waitlist time, higher preoperative MELD (model for end-stage liver disease) scores and received organs from donors with lower donor risk indices. In multivariate analysis, only preoperative MELD score remained significant. Postoperatively, there was no difference in the incidence of acute kidney injury; however, patients with prolonged hospital stay were more likely to have early allograft dysfunction and a higher 90-day mortality.