Table 1.
Baseline clinic and laboratory data for 137 patients undergoing OLT
| Clinical data before OLT | Number (%) |
|---|---|
| Ascites | 100 (73) |
| Hepatic encephalopathya | 56 (41) |
| Renal insufficiency (creatinine > 1.5 mg/dl) | 22 (16) |
| Variceal bleeding | 20 (15) |
| TIPS | 0 |
| Infection within 1 month before OLT | 23 (16.8) |
| Laboratory data before OLT | Median (range) |
|---|---|
| Total bilirubin (mg/dl) | 30 (2.3–63.7) |
| Albumin level (g/dl) | 3.0 (2.1–4.0) |
| Alanine aminotransferase (U/l) | 244 (34–1234) |
| γ-Glutamyltransferase (U/l) | 345 (85–1088) |
| AFP (μg/l) | 10 (1–3044) |
| International normalized ratio | 2.8 (0.7–32.8) |
| Serum sodium (mmol/l) | 133 (124–147) |
| MELD score | 27.0 (13.4–54.8) |
| CTP score | 13 (10–14) |
The median age of the patients was 46 years (range 23–67 years). There were 122 men and 15 women
OLT orthotopic liver transplantation, TIPS transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt, AFP α-fetoprotein, MELD model for end-stage disease, CTP Child-Turcotte-Pugh
aBased on the criteria of Gitlin [8]. None of our patients was in stage 3 or 4 coma before OLT. Subtle signs of encephalopathy (stage 1) were not included in our definition