Abstract
BackgroundProlongation of corrected QT interval (QTc) on the electrocardiogram is associated with cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. Changes in the QTc (corrected QT) interval before and after liver transplantation (LT) for the treatment of liver cirrhosis (LC) and its association with clinical outcomes have not been fully evaluated.MethodsFrom January 2011 to May 2016, consecutive 516 consecutive recipients were enrolled into LT registry and the median follow-up was 31 months (IQR 12–52). Patients with an available electrocardiogram before LT and 1 month after from LT were analyzed. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to prolonged QTc interval. The patient groups were analyzed separately according whether the electrocardiogram was preoperative or postoperative. The primary outcome was all-cause death during the follow-up period.ResultsA total of 283 patients were enrolled in the study. In the preoperative QTc prolongation group, there was not a significant rate difference in all-cause mortality in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR], 0.94; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.53–1.66; P = 0.26). However, in the postoperative QTc prolongation group, mortality was significantly increased (HR, 1.78; 95%CI, 1.05–3.03; P = 0.03) in patients who underwent LT.ConclusionIn patients who underwent LT for LC, postoperative QTc prolongation on ECG, rather than preoperative, is associated with mortality. Larger clinical trials are needed to support this finding.
Highlights
Electrocardiogram (ECG) is a record of electrical activity of the heart and routinely performed to detect any cardiac problems
There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality between the group A and group B (Table 2, Fig 2A)
The main findings of this study were as follows: 1) preoperative QTc prolongation was not associated with mortality in liver cirrhosis (LC) patients who underwent liver transplantation (LT); 2) patients who had QTc prolongation on the LT postoperative follow-up ECG showed an increased incidence of all-cause death; and 3) regardless of preoperative QTc prolongation, QTc prolongation after LT was independently associated with all-cause mortality in patients with LC
Summary
Prolongation of corrected QT interval (QTc) on the electrocardiogram is associated with cardiac arrhythmia and sudden death. Changes in the QTc (corrected QT) interval before and after liver transplantation (LT) for the treatment of liver cirrhosis (LC) and its association with clinical outcomes have not been fully evaluated
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