National assessment of early biliary complications following liver transplantation: Incidence and outcomes

Despite improved overall liver transplant outcomes, biliary complications remain a significant cause of morbidity. A national data set linking transplant registry and Medicare claims data for 17,012 liver transplant recipients was used to identify all recipients with a posttransplant biliary diagnosis code within the first 6 months after transplantation. Patients were further categorized as follows: a diagnosis without a procedure, a diagnosis and an associated radiological or endoscopic procedure, or a diagnosis treated with surgery. Overall, 15.0% had a biliary diagnosis, 11.2% required a procedure, and 2.2% had a surgical revision. Factors independently associated with biliary complications included donation after cardiac death (DCD), donor age, recipient age, split grafts, and long cold ischemia times. Graft loss was significantly more common for patients with biliary diagnoses [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR)=1.89, confidence interval (CI)=1.63-2.19], interventions (aHR=2.08, CI=1.77-2.44), and surgical procedures (aHR=1.80, CI=1.31-2.49). Mortality after transplantation was also markedly increased for patients with biliary diagnoses (aHR=2.18, CI=1.97-2.40), procedures (aHR=2.21, CI=1.99-2.46), and surgeries (aHR=1.77, CI=1.41-2.23). In stratified analyses, the impact of early biliary complications was greater for DCD liver recipients, but they remained highly significant for recipients of allografts from brain-dead donors as well. Reducing biliary complications should improve posttransplant survival and reduce graft loss.