Impact of the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) Score on Liver Transplantation in Greece

IntroductionThe impact of preoperative Model for End-stage Liver Disease (MELD) score in postoperative mortality remains unclear. The assumption that patients with a higher MELD score will have a higher mortality rate is not confirmed and studies are contradictory.AimThe study of the clinical course of patients with a higher MELD score and its impact in immediate and later mortality in comparison with patients with a lower MELD score in the only liver transplantation center in Greece.MethodWe retrospectively studied 71 patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in the time period between 1-1-2011 and 31-12-2013. The patients were divided into 2 groups: Group A with a MELD score ≥23 and Group B with a MELD score <23.ResultsIn the patients with a MELD score ≥23 the duration of mechanical ventilation and length of stay in the ICU were prolonged (P = .013 and .009, respectively), the transfusions were more (P = .005), and the rates of ICU readmissions (22.5% vs 7.31%, P = .001) and infections (42.5% vs 17.5%, P = .011) were higher. Thirty-day mortality did not differ between the 2 groups (P = .420), but there was a statistically significant difference in morbidity and in 180-day mortality.ConclusionThe patients with a higher MELD score have more complex pathophysiology. This score seems to affect morbidity and late, but not early, mortality.