A descriptive analysis of 188 liver transplant patient visits to an emergency department

Abstract

Background: The aim of the study is to seek the causes of application, the demographic and clinical characteristics of liver transplant patients and to share the experiences of our Emergency Department. Materials and Methods: One hundred eightyeight Emergency Department visits of ninety patients who underwent liver transplant operations between 2002 and 2009 were evaluated retrospectively.

Results: The patients applied to the Emergency Department with the complaints of fever 28.2% and abdominal pain 30.9%. It was detected that the final diagnosis of 52.4% of the patient visits was associated with the gastrointestinal system. It was observed that the most common treatment was drug therapy by 45.2% and that antibiotics treatment was the most applied method in drug treatment. Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) median value of hospitalized patients (45.5 U/L) is significantly higher than that of discharged patients (35 U/L) (p = 0.04). From the records of the patients, positive correlations between the length of hospitalization and levels of total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, ALT and fever during the visit were detected (p = 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.01, p = 0.01, respectively). Conclusions: Most frequently liver transplant recipients visited the Emergency Departments with the complaints of fever and abdominal pain. The diagnosis was generally associated with gastrointestinal system disorders. The percentage of hospitalization was high and the length of stay at the hospital was long. The treatment of these patients required a multidisciplinary approach and antibiotics constituted the most used drug treatment. Also, fever and liver function tests examined at the time of admittance to the Emergency Department affected the length of hospitalization.