Clinical efficacy of liver transplantation for liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of liver transplantation for liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension.Methods The clinical data of 181 patients with liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension who were admitted to the People's Hospital of Peking University from January 2000 to January 2012 were retrospectively analyzed.The efficacy of liver transplantation for liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension was investigated.The indications of liver transplantation included repeated upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage,failure of medication,surgical treatment and interventional therapy,and portal hypertension combined with hepatic functional decompensation.Orthotropic liver transplantation or piggyback liver transplantation was selected according to the condition of the patients.The pressures of the portal vein were detected before and after the transplantation of the liver graft by the manometer tube.The incidence of postoperative complications was detected.Patients were followed up regularly till December 2012.The varices and rebleeding of the esophageal veins and the survival of the patients were monitored.The survival rates was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method,and the measurement data were analyzed using the t test.Results Of the 181 patients,65 received orthotropic liver transplantation,and 116 received piggyback liver transplantation.The operation time,volume of blood loss and anhepatic phase were (485 ± 97) minutes,(4 380 ± 1 993) mL and (56 ± 24) minutes,respectively.T tube was placed in 157 patients.The portal vein pressure was detected in 102 patients.The portal vein pressures before and after liver transplantation were (32 ± 11) cmH2O (1 cmH2O =0.098 kPa) and (21 ± 6) cmH2O,respectively.There was significant difference in the portal vein pressure before and after liver transplantation (t =2.412,P ＜ 0.05).Severe infection was detected in 23 patients,acute renal failure in 20 patients,severe abdominal bleeding in 6 patients,vascular complications in 5 patients and primary graft non-function in 2 patients after liver transplantation.A total of 181 patients were followed up for 6-131 months.One hundred and thirty-eight patients received endoscopy or upper gastrointestinal imaging at 1 year after liver transplantation.The varices were disappeared in 112 patients and alleviated in 26 patients,with the overall alleviation rate of 85.71％ (138/161).Four patients were complicated with upper gastrointestinal rebleeding within 1 year after liver transplantation,and the rebleeding rate was 3.70％ (4/108).The condition of 3 patients was alleviated by haemostatics and endoscopic treatment,and 1 patient died of liver failure caused by rebleeding.The 1-month,1-,5-year survival rates were 86.8％,84.9％ and 77.4％,respectively.Twenty-three patients died.Fifteen patients died of multi-organ dysfunction syndrome,5 died of vascular complications (2 died of hepatic artery thrombosis,2 died of portal vein thrombosis and 1 died of anastomotic stricture of vena cava),2 died of primary graft non-function,and 1 died of respiratory complications.Conclusion Liver transplantation is an efficient method for the treatment of liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension with the advantages of low rebleeding rate and ideal efficacy of reducing portal vein pressure. Key words: Portal hypertension; Liver transplantation; Esophageal varices