Acute kidney injury after orthotopic liver transplantation using living donor versus deceased donor grafts: A propensity score-matched analysis.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after liver transplantation (LT). Few studies investigating the incidence and risk factors for AKI after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) have been published. LDLT recipients have a lower risk for post-LT AKI than deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) recipients because of higher quality liver grafts. We retrospectively reviewed LDLTs and DDLTs performed at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center between January 2006 and December 2011. AKI was defined as a 50% increase in serum creatinine (SCr) from baseline (preoperative) values within 48 hours. One hundred LDLT and 424 DDLT recipients were included in the propensity score matching logistic model on the basis of age, sex, Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score, Child-Pugh score, pretransplant SCr, and preexisting diabetes mellitus. Eighty-six pairs were created after 1-to-1 propensity matching. The binary outcome of AKI was analyzed using mixed effects logistic regression, incorporating the main exposure of interest (LDLT versus DDLT) with the aforementioned matching criteria and postreperfusion syndrome, number of units of packed red blood cells, and donor age as fixed effects. In the corresponding matched data set, the incidence of AKI at 72 hours was 23.3% in the LDLT group, significantly lower than the 44.2% in the DDLT group (P = 0.004). Multivariate mixed effects logistic regression showed that living donor liver allografts were significantly associated with reduced odds of AKI at 72 hours after LT (P = 0.047; odds ratio, 0.31; 95% confidence interval, 0.096-0.984). The matched patients had lower body weights, better preserved liver functions, and more stable intraoperative hemodynamic parameters. The donors were also younger for the matched patients than for the unmatched patients. In conclusion, receiving a graft from a living donor has a protective effect against early post-LT AKI.