Liver Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Liver Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Four cases of cardiopulmonary thromboembolism during liver transplantation without the use of antifibrinolytic drugs.

Lerner AB, Sundar E, Mahmood F, Sarge T, Hanto DW, Panzica PJ

BIDMC Department of Anesthesia, West Campus, CC 540, 1 Deaconess Rd., Boston, MA 02215, USA. alerner@bidmc.harvard.edu

Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) is one of the most demanding surgical procedures performed. Intraoperative bleeding can be substantial and related to both surgical and nonsurgical causes. A less common but previously reported phenomenon is intraoperative cardiopulmonary thromboembolism precipitating major patient morbidity and mortality. In this paper, we present four cases of intraoperative thromboembolism during OLT. These cases were performed without the concomitant use of antifibrinolytic drugs. We performed a review and analysis of previously reported cases of intraoperative thromboembolism during OLT. Possible causes of thromboembolism, clinical management, use of thromboelastography, and the role of antifibrinolytic drugs are discussed.

Published 22 November 2005 in Anesth Analg, 101(6): 1608-12.
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