Early postoperative mortality in liver transplant recipients involving indications other than hepatocellular carcinoma. A retrospective cohort study

To analyze the perioperative differences in a consecutive cohort of liver transplant recipients (LTRs) classified according to the indication of transplantation, and assess their impact upon early mortality 90 days after transplantation. A retrospective cohort study was carried out. A single university hospital. A total of 892 consecutive adult LTRs were included from January 1995 to December 2017. Recipients with acute liver failure, retransplantation or with grafts from non-brain death donors were excluded. Two cohorts were analyzed according to transplant indication: hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC-LTR) versus non-carcinoma (non-HCC-LTR). Recipient early mortality was the primary endpoint. The pretransplant recipient and donor characteristics, surgical time data and postoperative complications were analyzed as independent predictors. The crude early postoperative mortality rate related to transplant indication was 13.3% in non-HCC-LTR and 6.6% in HCC-LTR (non-adjusted HR=2.12, 95%CI=1.25–3.60; p=0.005). Comparison of the perioperative features between the cohorts revealed multiple differences. Multivariate analysis showed postoperative shock (HR=2.02, 95%CI=1.26–3.24; p=0.003), early graft vascular complications (HR=4.01, 95%CI=2.45–6.56; p