Thrombocytopenia, Platelet Transfusion, and Outcome Following Liver Transplantation

Thrombocytopenia affects patients undergoing liver transplantation. Intraoperative platelet transfusion has been shown to independently influence survival after liver transplantation at 1 and 5 years. We examined the impact of thrombocytopenia and intraoperative platelet transfusion on short-term graft and overall survival after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). A total of 399 patients undergoing first OLT were studied. Graft and overall survival in patients with different degrees of thrombocytopenia and with or without intraoperative platelet transfusion were described. The degree of thrombocytopenia prior to OLT did not affect graft or overall survival after transplant. However, graft survival in patients receiving platelets was significantly reduced at 1 year (P = .023) but not at 90 days (P = .093). Overall survival was significantly reduced at both 90 days (P = .040) and 1 year (P = .037) in patients receiving platelets. We conclude that a consistently lower graft and overall survival were observed in patients receiving intraoperative platelet transfusion.