The 4-Week Serum Creatinine Level Predicts Long-Term Renal Dysfunction After Adult Living Donor Liver Transplantation

ObjectivesRecipients after liver transplantation. (OLT) often experience renal dysfunction. Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) after OLT occur among 20% to 50% and 30% to 90% of recipients, respectively; 2% to 5% of them deteriorate into end-stage renal disease each year. Since the predictable factors for CKD have not been well identified. We sought to investigate the incidence and predictors of CKD at 5 years after OLT.Patients and methodsBetween August 2002 and December 2005, we enrolled 77 patients who underwent adult living donor OLT with over 2 years of follow-up. The strategies to prevent renal dysfunction included induction with basiliximab to delay the use of tacrolimus: addition of mycophenolate mofetil to reduce the tacrolimus dosage; avoidance of the calcineurin inhibitor using sirolimus or administration of an angiotensin II receptor antagonist. The clinical variables were reviewed for analysis.ResultsThe mean follow-up was 76 ± 14 months. The incidence of AKI (over 50% increase level of creatinine) was 29%. Ten (13.0%) patients developed CKD (creatinine > 2 mg/dL). One (1.3%) subject developed end-stage renal disease requiring hemodialysis. Upon multivariate analysis the development of CKD was significantly associated with the posttransplant 4-week creatinine level: 0.92 ± 0.23 versus 1.37 ± 0.93 mg/dL (P = .008).ConclusionThe 4-week creatinine value was predictive of the occurence of CKD over 5 years after OLT.