Bacterial Infections Post Liver Transplantation; One Year Experience

Abstract

In adults with acute and chronic end-stage liver disease, liver transplantation (LT) is the only treatment option for these patients. On the other hand, one of the substantial causes of death in these patients is bacterial infection after transplantation, which should be considered as well as appropriate antibacterial treatment. For this reason, this study was designed to provide a multi-faceted review of different types of infections after transplantation and their treatment options during one year of experience in the largest LT center for adult patients in Iran. In this retrospective cohort study, records from all individuals over 18 years of age candidates for liver transplantation in Abu-Ali Sina hospital, Shiraz, Fars, Iran from 2018 March to 2019 March , were assessed. Demographic, laboratory, and clinical data were extracted in addition to the antimicrobial therapy. In this study, 412 patients included. 15.77% of patients were infected after transplantation, of which 61.17% of the isolated pathogens were gram-negative and 38.83% were gram-positive. The most common isolated gram-positive and gram-negative microorganisms include staphylococci (27.69%) and Klebsiella (27.69%), respectively. Urinary tract infection was the most common type of infection after transplantation in adult liver transplant recipients, and length of stay in ICU, length of hospital stay, length of mechanical ventilation are among the risk factors affecting bacterial infection after LT.

Keywords

• liver transplant
• bacterial infections
• antibiotics