Effect of Preoperative Sarcopenia, Malnutrition and Functional status on Postoperative Morbidity Following Liver Transplantation

Introduction The effect of sarcopenia, malnutrition, and functional status on immediate post liver transplantation outcome is not well established. Most studies on sarcopenia are related to 1 and 3-year mortality. Studies evaluating the effect of malnutrition are at least a decade old. Project Aims We evaluated the effect of preoperative sarcopenia, malnutrition, and functional status on postoperative length of hospital and ICU stay, incidence of complications, and mortality. Design In this prospective study conducted on living donor liver transplant recipients, sarcopenia and malnutrition were identified using the psoas muscle thickness to height and the Royal Free Hospital- Nutritional Prioritizing Tool respectively. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status score was noted. Postoperatively, length-of-hospital stay, ICU stay, duration of mechanical ventilation and incidence of postoperative complications were noted. Results Hospital and ICU length of stay, and duration of mechanical ventilation were greater in sarcopenic versus non-sarcopenic patients (35.9 (14.6) versus 26.7 (10.7) days, P = 0.02; 12.9 (4.8) versus 9.6 (3.8) days, P = 0.02 and 8 [5,23] versus 5 [4,7] days, P = 0.01 respectively). The incidence of acute kidney injury was higher in patients with sarcopenia (53.3% vs 19.4%, P = 0.02). Patients with malnutrition and repeated hospitalizations had higher ICU stays but hospital length of stay duration of mechanical ventilation or the incidence of postoperative complications were not affected. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group score did not affect postoperative outcome. Conclusion In living donor liver transplant recipients, sarcopenia increased hospital and ICU stays, and duration of mechanical ventilation postoperatively. Malnutrition increased ICU stays.