Brain MR imaging in neurologic complications of post living donor liver transplant recipients

Abstract

Liver transplantation (LT) is a complex medical–surgical procedure, accepted as the best treatment for end-stage liver disease of various etiologies. Relatively common occurrence of neurologic complications in post LT patients as compared to other solid organ transplantation is probably due to the poorer clinical condition of these patients (malnutrition, coagulopathy and electrolyte imbalance), pre-transplant encephalopathy and the highly complex and lengthy surgical procedure with major hemodynamic changes. Neuroimaging especially MRI plays an important role in localising and characterising the abnormalities to reach a presumptive diagnosis of these complications which helps in timely intervention. Hence, it is important to be familiar with the imaging spectrum of various cerebral complications in these patients to guide the treatment. In this review, we summarize the MR imaging spectrum of the common neurological complications in post LT patients.