Early detection of coagulopathy is important to prevent bleeding during liver transplantation (LT). Rotation thromboelastometry (ROTEM^®) provides the earliest parameter of clot amplitudes at 5 min (A5). We evaluated whether A5 correlates with platelet count (PLT) and fibrinogen concentration (Fib) and can predict thrombocytopenia and hypofibrinogenaemia in hypocoagulable patients undergoing living-donor LT (LDLT). A total of 3446 retrospective ROTEM^® measurements, including 1139 EXTEM, 1182 INTEM, and 1125 FIBTEM, with simultaneously measured PLT and Fib, were analysed during LDLT in 239 patients. The correlations between A5 and maximum clot firmness (MCF) index, PLT, and Fib were calculated. Receiver operating characteristic analysis with area under the curve (AUC) was used to assess A5 thresholds predictive of PLT and Fib. The median PLT was 47 000 mm⁻³ and the median Fib was 100 mg dl⁻¹ during LDLT. The A5 parameters of EXTEM (A5_EXTEM) and INTEM (A5_INTEM) were highly correlated with MCF (r=0.96 and r=0.95, respectively), PLT (r=0.76 and r=0.77, respectively), and Fib (r=0.63 and r=0.64, respectively). A5 of FIBTEM (A5_FIBTEM) was also correlated with MCF (r=0.91) and Fib (r=0.75). A5_EXTEM thresholds of 15 and 19 mm predicted PLT<30 000 mm⁻³ (AUC=0.90) and <50 000 mm⁻³ (AUC=0.87), respectively, whereas A5_FIBTEM 4 mm predicted Fib<100 mg dl⁻¹ (AUC=0.86). Biases from A5_EXTEM and A5_FIBTEM to their MCFs were 16.4 and 1.3 mm, respectively. A5 as an early variable of clot firmness is effective in detecting critically low PLT and Fib. A5 can therefore be a reliable fast index guiding transfusion therapy in hypocoagulable patients undergoing LDLT.

Atients. METHODS: Twenty-three hypertensive patients who were scheduled for kidney transplant were enrolled. Radial arterial BP, electrocardiogram, and finger pulse oximetric plethysmography were simultaneously recorded. PTT was measured as the time interval from the R-wave peak on the electrocardiogram to the maximal upslope of the photoplethysmogram. Relationships between beat-to-beat PTT and BP were evaluated by correlation and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: During anesthesia induction, changes in PTT were directly proportional to changes in BP: when BP decreased, PTT lengthened, and vice versa. The inverse of PTT demonstrated significantly better correlation with systolic BP than with mean BP (r = 0.81 ± 0.11 vs r = 0.72 ± 0.17; P < 0.001) or diastolic BP (r = 0.81 ± 0.11 vs r = 0.52 ± 0.24; P < 0.001). The inverse of PTT was more highly correlated with decreasing than with increasing changes in systolic BP (r = 0.83 ± 0.12 vs r = 0.68 ± 0.20; P = 0.001). The ROC curve analysis revealed that a 15% increase in PTT during anesthesia induction could detect a ≥30% decrease in systolic BP, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.85. CONCLUSION: Beat-to-beat PTT was fairly well correlated with invasive systolic BP and could predict a reduction in systolic BP during anesthesia induction. Beat-to-beat PTT may show potential as a useful noninvasive index of systolic BP when invasive BP is unavailable in high-risk hypertensive patients....

Cardiovascular complications have emerged as the leading cause of death after liver transplantation, particularly among those with advanced liver cirrhosis. Therefore, a thorough and accurate cardiovascular evaluation with clear comprehension of cirrhotic cardiomyopathy is recommended for optimal anesthetic management. However, cirrhotic patients manifest cardiac dysfunction concomitant with pronounced systemic hemodynamic changes, characterized by hyperdynamic circulation such as increased cardiac output, high heart rate, and decreased systemic vascular resistance. These unique features mask significant manifestations of cardiac dysfunction at rest, which makes it difficult to accurately evaluate cardiovascular status. In this review, we have summarized the current knowledge of heart and liver interactions, focusing on the usefulness and limitations of cardiac evaluation tools for identifying high-risk patients.

Liver transplantation (LT) is closely associated with decreased immune function, a contributor to herpes zoster (HZ). However, risk factors for HZ in living donor LT (LDLT) remain unknown. Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and immune system function are reportedly correlated. This study investigated the association between NLR and HZ in 1688 patients who underwent LDLT between January 2010 and July 2020 and evaluated risk factors for HZ and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). The predictive power of NLR was assessed through the concordance index and an integrated discrimination improvement (IDI) analysis. Of the total cohort, 138 (8.2%) had HZ. The incidence of HZ after LT was 11.2 per 1000 person-years and 0.1%, 1.3%, 2.9%, and 13.5% at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years, respectively. In the Cox regression analysis, preoperative NLR was significantly associated with HZ (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02–1.09; p = 0.005) and PHN (HR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.03–1.13; p = 0.001). Age, sex, mycophenolate mofetil use, and hepatitis B virus infection were risk factors for HZ versus age and sex for PHN. In the IDI analysis, NLR was discriminative for HZ and PHN (p = 0.020 and p = 0.047, respectively). Preoperative NLR might predict HZ and PHN in LDLT recipients.