Published online Oct 27, 2021. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v13.i10.1405
Peer-review started: April 11, 2021
First decision: June 15, 2021
Revised: June 23, 2021
Accepted: September 23, 2021
Article in press: September 23, 2021
Published online: October 27, 2021
Processing time: 194 Days and 13.2 Hours
Despite significant advancements in liver transplantation (LT) surgical procedures and perioperative care, post-LT biliary complications (BCs) remain a significant source of morbidity, mortality, and graft failure. In addition, data are conflicting regarding the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of LT recipients. Thus, the success of LT should be considered in terms of both the survival and recovery of HRQoL.
To assess the impact of BCs on the HRQoL of live-donor LT recipients (LDLT-Rs).
We retrospectively analysed data for 25 LDLT-Rs who developed BCs post-LT between January 2011 and December 2016 at our institution. The Short Form 12 version 2 (SF 12v2) health survey was used to assess their HRQoL. We also included 25 LDLT-Rs without any post-LT complications as a control group.
The scores for HRQoL of LDLT-Rs who developed BCs were significantly higher than the norm-based scores in the domains of physical functioning (P = 0.003), role-physical (P < 0.001), bodily pain (P = 0.003), general health (P = 0.004), social functioning (P = 0.005), role-emotional (P < 0.001), and mental health (P < 0.001). No significant difference between the two groups regarding vitality was detected (P = 1.000). The LDLT-Rs with BCs had significantly lower scores than LDLT-Rs without BCs in all HRQoL domains (P < 0.001) and the mental (P < 0.001) and physical (P = 0.0002) component summary scores.
The development of BCs in LDLT-Rs causes a lower range of improvement in HRQoL.
Core Tip: We retrospectively analysed data for 25 Live-donor liver transplantation recipients (LDLT-Rs) with biliary complications (BCs) and described their health-related quality of life (HRQoL) using the Short Form 12 version 2 health survey. All scores for HRQoL domains of LDLT-Rs with BCs were significantly higher than the norm-based scores except for vitality. The LDLT-Rs with BCs had significantly lower scores than LDLT-Rs without BCs in all HRQoL domains (P < 0.001) and in the mental (P < 0.001) and physical (P = 0.0002) component summary scores. We conclude that the development of BCs in LDLT-Rs causes a lower range of improvement in HRQoL.