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©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 14, 2015; 21(26): 8004-8013
Published online Jul 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i26.8004
Perioperative thrombotic complications in liver transplantation
Paolo Feltracco, Stefania Barbieri, Umberto Cillo, Giacomo Zanus, Marco Senzolo, Carlo Ori
Paolo Feltracco, Stefania Barbieri, Carlo Ori, Department of Medicine, UO Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Padua University Hospital, 35128 Padua, Italy
Umberto Cillo, Giacomo Zanus, Hepatobiliary Surgery and Liver Transplant Unit, Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy
Marco Senzolo, Multivisceral Transplant Unit, Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology, University Hospital of Padua, 35128 Padua, Italy
Author contributions: Feltracco P designed the study, collected and analyzed the data, wrote the manuscript, and gave final approval of the manuscript; Barbieri S, Cillo U, Zanus G, Senzolo M and Ori C contributed to acquisition of data, drafting, revising, and editing the manuscript; all authors gave their full approval to publication of this manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The Authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Correspondence to: Paolo Feltracco, MD, Department of Medicine, UO Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, Padua University Hospital, Via Cesare Battisti, 256, 35128 Padua, Italy. paolofeltracco@inwind.it
Telephone: +39-49-8218285 Fax: +39-49-8218289
Received: January 20, 2015
Peer-review started: January 20, 2015
First decision: April 13, 2015
Revised: April 30, 2015
Accepted: June 9, 2015
Article in press: June 10, 2015
Published online: July 14, 2015
Processing time: 175 Days and 11.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Data from many transplant centers demonstrate an underlying hypercoagulative state during liver transplantation. A dysfunctional hypercoagulable condition may persist for a variable time period after the transplant procedure. Occlusive vascular events deserve special attention because they pose a major threat to both patient and graft survival. Regardless of the lack of definitive guidelines on postoperative preventive antithrombotic treatment, many institutions recommend prophylactic anticoagulation in liver recipients at high risk of vascular thrombotic events. The present paper reviews the characteristics and risk factors of thrombotic complications after liver transplantation; in addition it presents valuable information on the relevance of pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis.