Application of indocyanine green (ICG) detection in evaluating early prognosis in patients with fatty liver disease after liver transplantation

The relationship between the clearance rate of ICG (indocyanine green) and varying degrees of liver fatty degeneration remains to be explored. The value of ICG detection in the evaluation of early prognosis following hepatic transplantation has been rarely investigated. Clinical data of 106 patients undergoing liver transplantation were retrospectively analyzed. The severity of fatty degeneration of the resected liver specimens was assessed by pathological biopsy. All patients were assigned into one of three groups: A (no fatty degeneration), B (<20% hepatic fatty degeneration) or C (20–40% hepatic fatty degeneration). Multiple parameters were statistically compared among the three groups before, during, and after liver transplantation. The results demonstrated that R15-D (15 minute detection rate of ICG in the donors) was positively correlated with R15-R (15 minute detection rate of ICG in the recipients). After liver transplantation, the peak values of ALT and total bilirubin (TB), and the R15-R and the rate of early allograft dysfunction (EAD) in group C were the highest among all three groups. However, the 3-month and 6-month survival rate of the grafts and the 1-year survival rate of the patients in group A were considerably lower compared to groups B and C. The area under the curve (AUC) of R15-R in predicting the EAD, 3-month survival rate and 6-month survival rate of the grafts and the 1-year survival rate of the patients was 0.956, 0.827, 0.867, and 0.794, respectively. ICG detection rate can be used to predict the early prognosis of patients diagnosed with moderate liver fatty degeneration.