Does the model for end-stage liver disease score predict transfusion amount, acid-base imbalance, haemodynamic and oxidative abnormalities during living donor liver transplantation?

The model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score is associated with the severity of liver failure in transplant patients. This study examined whether life-threatening stress factors during liver transplantation differed according to the patients' preoperative MELD scores. Forty-four patients who underwent living donor liver transplantation were divided into a high MELD group (MELD score ≥ 20) (n = 25) and a low MELD group (MELD score < 20) (n = 19). The volume of blood components transfused, acid-base homeostasis variables, and haemodynamic and oxidative variables were measured at each stage of the surgery. The systemic vascular resistance index was significantly lower in the high MELD group than in the low MELD group at all time points. The oxygen utility index and the oxygen extraction ratio were all significantly lower in the high MELD group than in the low MELD group only at the preanhepatic stage and not at later stages of surgery. Intraoperative transfusion volume and the severity of metabolic acidosis were not associated with the preoperative MELD score.