The reason, diagnosis and treatment of postoperative early cardiac arrhythmia in 500 patients who received orthotopic liver transplantation

Abstract

Objective To summarize and investigate the incidence,reason,diagnosis and treatment of postoperative early cardiac arrhythmia after orthotopic liver transplantation(OLT).Method A retrospective study was made for the incidence,dignosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmia (two weeks after OLT) following OLT from June 2004 to January 2012 in the Beijing You-An Hospital.Results In 500 patients who received OLT,Cardiac arrhythmia developed in 82 patients (16.4％).Among these cardiac arrhythmia,35(7.0 ％) were sick sinus syndrome (including severe sinus bradycardia ),18 (3.6 ％ ) were paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia,21(4.2 ％) were atrial fibrillation,8(1.6 ％,including 2 patients with torsades de pointes) were ventricular tachycardia and 4 (0.8 ％ )were cardiac arrest.Mortality rate after OLT relate to cardiac arrhythmia was 0.4％ (2 patients).Cardiac arrhythmia was mainly correlated with four factors:(1)whether patient had heart disease before OLT or not(x2 =15.82,P＜0.01),(2)Prolonged QT interval in patients with end-stage liver disease before OLT(x2 =11.00,P＜0.01).Conclusions Cardiac arrhythmia was common complication after OLT,and it can lead to death of recipients.Careful evaluation to recipients before OLT,controlling fluid load after OLT,keeping the balance of the electrolyte,acidity and alkalescence,giving intensive monitor to patients with heart disease before OLT and prolonged QT interval are the key factor to reduce incidence and mortality of cardiac arrhythmia.Application of medication and cardiac pacemaker can prevent cardiovascular accident after OLT. Key words: Liver transplantation; Arrhythmia; Causality