Background: Patients who undergo living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) may suffer complications that require intensive care unit (ICU) readmission.
Aim: To identify the incidence, causes, and outcomes of ICU readmission after LDLT.
Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted on patients who underwent LDLT. The collected data included patient demographics, preoperative characteristics, intraoperative details; postoperative stay, complications, causes of ICU readmission, and outcomes. Patients were divided into two groups according to ICU readmission after hospital discharge. Risk factors for ICU readmission were identified in univariate and multivariate analyses.
Results: The present study included 299 patients. Thirty-one (10.4%) patients were readmitted to the ICU after discharge. Patients who were readmitted to the ICU were older in age (53.0 ± 5.1 vs 49.4 ± 8.8, P = 0.001) and had a significantly higher percentage of women (29% vs 13.4%, P = 0.032), diabetics (41.9% vs 24.6%, P = 0.039), hypertensives (22.6% vs 6.3%, P = 0.006), and renal (6.5% vs 0%, P = 0.010) patients as well as a significantly longer initial ICU stay (6 vs 4 d, respectively, P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis revealed that significant independent risk factors for ICU readmission included recipient age (OR = 1.048, 95%CI = 1.005-1.094, P = 0.030) and length of initial hospital stay (OR = 0.836, 95%CI = 0.789-0.885, P < 0.001).
Conclusion: The identification of high-risk patients (older age and shorter initial hospital stay) before ICU discharge may help provide optimal care and tailor follow-up to reduce the rate of ICU readmission.
Keywords: Intensive care units; Liver transplantation; Patient readmission; Risk factors.
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