Impact of preoperative liver dysfunction on outcomes in patients with left ventricular assist devices

Abstract OBJECTIVES We evaluated the impact of preoperative liver function on early and 1-year postoperative outcomes in patients supported with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) and subsequent evolution of liver function markers. METHODS A retrospective multicentre cohort study was conducted, including all patients undergoing continuous-flow LVAD implantation. The Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score was used to define liver dysfunction. RESULTS Overall, 290 patients with an LVAD [78% HeartMate II, 15% HVAD and 7% HeartMate 3, mean age 55 (18), 76% men] were included. Over 40 000 measurements of liver function markers were collected over a 1-year period. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for the 1-year mortality rate identified the optimal cut-off value of 12.6 for the MELD score. Therefore, the cohort was dichotomized into patients with an MELD score of less than or greater than 12.6. The early (90-day) survival rates in patients with and without liver dysfunction were 76% and 91% (P = 0.002) and 65% and 90% at 1 year, respectively (P