Preservation injury in clinical liver transplantation: Incidence and effect on rejection and survival

The distribution of the severity of preservation injury (PI), its association with acute early rejection, and its effect on graft and patient survival were examined in 151 patients transplanted between 9/88 and 12/91. PI was graded into mild, moderate and severe using prothrombin time (PT) on the 2nd POD and peak AST and ALT levels of the first 3 days after transplant. Of the 151 patients, 104 (68.8%) had minimal, 24 (15.9%) had moderate, and 23 (15.3%) had severe PI. The rate of early rejection, within 21 days after transplant, (54.8% vs 54.2% vs 52.2%) and its timing (10.0 ± 0.5 vs 8.8 ± 0.8 vs 8.9 ± 1.4 days) as well as the incidence of steroid-resistant rejection (21.4% vs 33% vs 30%) did not differ significantly among groups. Graft survival was significantly lower in the severe PI group than among patients with minimal PI at 3 months and 24 months (65.2% vs 86.2%; p < 0.05 and 58.3% vs 82.7%; p < 0.05, respectively). Patient survival at 3 and 24 months was similar among the groups (91.1% vs. 95.8% vs 86.9% and 81.9% vs 91.1% vs. 74.3%). We conclude that the cellular damage associated with preservation injury does not predispose to development of acute rejection.