From Listing to Transplant: Nephrologic Monitoring in Cirrhotic Patients Awaiting Liver Transplantation

Nephrologic monitoring of end-stage liver disease (ESLD) patients is part of evaluation for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The numerous causes of renal dysfunction in ESLD patients sometimes relate to the extent of liver damage or sometimes more closely to organic nephropathy. The aim of this study was to evaluate renal function through a specific nephrologic form applied in our outpatient clinic to optimize nephrologic monitoring in ESLD patients awaiting OLT. We enrolled 69 cirrhotic patients (56 men, 13 women) awaiting OLT from April 2008 to January 2012. All patients were evaluated at listing and every 3 months until OLT. The most interesting result was the stable values of serum creatinine from listing to transplantation. We think that dedicated liver transplant nephrologic evaluation is important in the follow-up of ESLD patients awaiting OLT, because the presence of renal dysfunction may represent an important criterion for specific therapeutic interventions to minimize pre-OLT renal injuries that limit the effect of impaired renal function on patient outcomes.