Hemodynamic monitoring in liver Transplantation patients in the third millennium

Abstract

In patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation (OLTx) surgery, the intraoperative hemodynamic monitoring technique that is most utilized is still the pulmonary artery catheter (PAC). The popularity of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is increasing, so today's updated issue is the following: should the use of PAC and/or volumetric monitoring with transpulmonary thermodilution and/or advanced volumetric PAC be limited in clinical practice, only for some high risk patients? Could we use the TEE, if necessary, in less critical ill patients undergoing OLTx surgery? We can integrate all of the aforementioned monitoring techniques in an increasing modular step wise monitoring concept. But in an uncertain hemodynamic situation, transthoracic and/or transoesophageal echocardiographic evaluation represents a cornerstone. The use of echocardiography during OLTx is more and more common with several benefits demonstrated particularly by the TEE in this patient population. To achieve and maintain adequate tissue perfusion becomes difficult in case of major bleeding, an event quite possible to occur during OLTx, affecting the immediate and the late outcome. All the clinicians agree that bleeding interfere with the choice of hemodynamic monitoring and or vice versa. A reasonable compromise is to find a balance between the need to extend monitoring in high-risk surgical patients and the average consumption of blood products that characterizes each individual transplant center. This is also in line with what is shown in literature in terms of Maximum Surgical Blood Ordering Schedule (MSBOS).