Why do patients die after a liver transplantation?

BACKGROUND: As more patients achieve long-term survival, it has become important to understand mortality in liver transplantation (LT) recipients.

METHODS: We conducted retrospective reviews of long-term outcome in two adult LT cohorts: 85 031 in the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database and 1458 transplanted at the University of Wisconsin (UW).

RESULTS: During median follow-up of 3.2 years (UNOS) and 6.6 years (UW), 35.1% of UNOS patients and 44.2% of UW patients died; 43.1% of all UNOS deaths occurred in year 1 compared to 25.1% in the UW cohort. Deaths due to infection (other than viral hepatitis) or cardiovascular (CV) causes were most frequent in year 1 in both cohorts and then persisted at lower rates. In contrast, death from malignancy increased after year 1 to peak in years 1-5. Deaths due to rejection, hepatitis, or graft failure were infrequent. In the UW cohort, de novo malignancy was more common than recurrent tumor and correlated with smoking history.

CONCLUSIONS: A coordinated holistic approach that focuses on limiting immunosuppression, infection, risky behaviors, and CV risks, while screening for cancer, is needed to extend the healthy lives of LT recipients.