Anaesthesia and intensive care for adult liver transplantation

This review describes the preoperative assessment and listing of the patient for liver transplantation and some of the perioperative challenges specific to this group of patients. The principles of the postoperative management in the intensive care unit are discussed as well as some of the signs of early graft dysfunction. Increasingly complex patients with advanced liver disease are receiving grafts from more marginal donors and this can present significant challenges to the transplant team. The anaesthetist and intensivist play a vital role in determining outcome in the perioperative period and must work collaboratively with surgeons and hepatologists to achieve the best patient outcomes.