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Background: Liver transplantation (LT) in the context of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) remains controversial. Therefore, we aimed to investigate 30-day and 1-year patient survival, 1-year graft survival and early allograft dysfunction (EAD) after LT in patients with ACLF and compare to a control population of patients without ACLF. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of ACLF grading and timing of LT on these post-transplant outcomes and the prognostic value of the Chronic Liver Failure consortium (CLIF-C) ACLF score. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data of patients who were transplanted from 2007 to 2019. ACLF patients were identified based on the European Association for the Study of the Liver-Chronic Liver Failure (EASL-CLIF) consortium criteria. Post-transplant outcomes were evaluated using Mann-Whitney U and Fisher’s exact tests, Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression models. Results: 446 patients were included in our analysis: 47 patients with ACLF and 399 patients without ACLF. Thirty-day patient survival was similar in both groups: 93.62% vs. 97.49% for the ACLF and non-ACLF group, respectively (P=0.148). Mean Model of Early Allograft Function (MEAF) score was higher in patients with ACLF than in patients without ACLF (5.15 vs. 4.39, P=0.0177). One-year patient survival was similar in patients with ACLF to patients without ACLF (89.4% vs. 92.4%, P=0.1126). No association was found between ACLF and post-transplant patient survival (HR 1.606; 95% CI: 0.889-2.901; P=0.1160) and graft survival (HR 1.453; 95% CI: 0.825-2.56; P=0.1956). The CLIF-C ACLF score did not predict post-transplant patient survival (HR 1.005; 95% CI: 0.936-1.08; P=0.8846) and graft survival (HR 1.000; 95% CI: 0.933-1.071; P=0.9961). Conclusion: Our study shows excellent 30-day and 1-year post-transplant patient survival in ACLF patients. This demonstrates and further confirms that LT provides a survival benefit in selected patients with ACLF, given the dismal prognosis without transplantation. The CLIF-C ACLF score was found not to be a predictor of post-transplant patient survival, further highlighting the need for an accurate prognostic tool to support clinicians in their decision-making process.
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ABSTRACT Background Little is known about major missed diagnoses in ICU hospitalised liver cirrhosis patients. Diagnostic errors in this specific population may result in the false positive detection of opportunistic fungal infections such as invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA), which could lead to the possible unwarranted removal of a patient from the liver transplant waiting list. The aim of this retrospective study is to investigate the discrepancies between pre- and postmortem diagnoses in ICU hospitalised cirrhosis patients and specifically explore diagnostic errors related to IPA. Methods In this retrospective monocenter study the major clinical diagnoses were compared with the autopsy reports using the modified Goldman classification of 151 ICU cirrhosis patients hospitalized between 2007 and 2017 in the intensive care units 511 and 516 in University Hospitals Leuven. Results 66 % of premortem diagnoses were confirmed at autopsy. This rate dropped to 41 % for fungal infections. The most frequently diagnosed fungal infection was IPA, which was also confirmed in 41 % of cases. In 7 % of patients the autopsy reported major missed diagnoses that could have prolonged survival or cured the patient. 46 % of these resulted from missed fungal infections, with IPA being the most frequently missed one (31 %). In 33 % of patients, postmortem findings identified major missed diagnoses that would not have prolonged survival or cured the patient, with acute/bacterial pneumonia being the most frequently reported (27 %). Conclusion This retrospective study observed major clinical diagnoses and fungal infections being confirmed only in respectively 66 and 41 % of patients. This could indicate that fallible diagnostic testing for fungal infections such as IPA can lead to more false positives, with all ensuing consequences. Our study found a rate as low as 7 % of class I errors, compared with other autopsy based studies which reported rates of up to 27 %. The higher frequency of major missed class I fungal infections and the higher rate of class II discrepancies could likely reflect the vulnerability of critically ill liver cirrhotic patients resulting in a lower threshold for initiation of treatment.
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