Chronic kidney disease in liver transplantation: Evaluation of kidney function

Abstract

Chronic kidney disease is one of the main comorbidities affecting liver transplant recipients. Most of those patients have some degree of acute or chronic kidney dysfunction at the time of transplantation, moreover they can also develop de novo chronic kidney disease once transplanted. An important increase in the incidence of chronic kidney disease in the «MELD era» has been observed. This phenomenon has partially been attributed to the weight that kidney function carries for organ allocation. In addition, the generalized use of calcineurin inhibitors has also been a contributing factor. It is of the utmost importance for us to be familiar with the current methods for evaluating kidney function before and after a liver transplantation. The two main biomarkers available today for that purpose are serum creatinine and cystatin C. Several equations have been derived from those biomarkers and have been tested in that context with mixed results, due to their biologic variability and the lack of standardization in their measurement. The gold standard continues to be the direct determination of the glomerular filtration rate through different methods, however that is only done for research purposes. It is also essential to know the current classification of acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease in order to make early diagnosis. The present review focuses on the recognition, diagnosis, and classification of chronic kidney disease and acute kidney injury in liver transplantation recipients.