Risk Factors for Development of Biliary Stricture After Liver Transplant in Adult Patients: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

Abstract

Identification of risk factors for biliary stricture after liver transplant and its potential prevention is crucial to improve the outcomes and reduce the complications. We retrospectively analyzed donor and recipient characteristics with intraoperative and postoperative parameters to identify the risk factors for development of post-transplant anastomotic and nonanastomotic biliary strictures with additional analysis of the time onset of those strictures. A total of 412 patients were included in this study. Mean (SD) follow-up time was 79 (35) months (range, 1-152 months). Biliary stricture was diagnosed in 84 patients (20.4%). Multivariate analysis indicated that postoperative biliary leakage (odd ratio [OR], 3.94; P=.001), acute cellular rejection (OR, 3.05; P < .001), donor age older than 47.5 years (OR, 2.05; P=.032), preoperative recipient platelet value < 77.5×103/mL (OR, 1.91; P=.023), University of Wisconsin solution (OR, 1.73; P=.041)), recipient male sex (OR, 1.78; P=.072), portal/arterial flow ratio > 4 (OR, 1.76; P=.083), and intraoperative bleeding > 2850 mL (OR, 1.70; P=.053) were independent risk factors for biliary stricture regardless of the time of their appearance. Multiple risk factors for biliary stricture were determined in this study. Some of these risk factors are preventable, and implementation of strategies to eliminate some of those factors should reduce the development of post-transplant biliary stricture.