Pre-operative Nutritional Situation in Liver Transplantation Patients and Its Correlation with Post-operative Infections

Objective To understand the pre-operative nutritional situation in liver transplantation patients and explore its correlation with post-operative infections. Methods The medical histories, physical examinations, and laboratory test results of 81 patients who underwent liver transplantation were collected and analyzed and their nutrition statuses were assessed before operations. After the operations, there infection events were recorded and the correlation between pre-operative nutritional situation and post-operative infections were analyzed. Results Body mass index showed the malnutrition rate was 44.9% in these patients before operation, while the malnutrition rate was 69.1% by subjective global assessment (SGA), 80.2% by measuring the amount of serum albumin (ALB), and 96.1% by measuring the amount of pre-albumin. Single variable analysis showed malnutrition status (P0.01) and ascitic fluid status (P﹤0.001) were the independent risk factors of infections, while multiple variable analysis showed malnutrition grading by SGA (OR=10.057; 95% CI: 2.810-35.997) and malnutrition by measuring ALB (OR=0.324; 95%CI: 0.112-0.938) were correlated with post-operative infections. Conclusions Liver transplantation patients have severe malnutrition beforeoperation, which may influence post-operative infections·A comprehensive pre-operational nutritional assess-ment, especially SGA, is required·