Bacterial infection after orthotopic liver transplantation

Introduction: The authors reviewed the prevalence of postoperative infections, the results of bacterium cultures, and the incidence of multidrug resistance in their liver transplanted patients during a period between 2003 and 2012. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse risk factors and colonisations of bacterial infections. Method: The files of 408 patients (281 bacterium cultures) were reviewed. Results: Of the 408 patients 70 had a postoperative infection (17%); 58 patients (14.2%) had positive and 12 patients (2.9%) negative bacterial culture results. Cholangitis was found in 7 cases (12.1%), abdominal infection in 17 cases (29.3%), and pulmonal infection in 28 cases (48.3%). Postoperative infection was more frequent in patients with initial poor graft function, acute renal insufficiency, biliary complication, and in those with intraabdominal bleeding. The 1-, 3- and 5-year cumulative survival of patients who had infection was 70%, 56% and 56%, respectively, whereas the cumulative survival data of patients without infection was 94%, 87% and 85%, respectively (p<0.001). Multidrug resistance was found in 56% of the positive cultures, however, the one-year survival was not different in patients who had multidrug resistance positive and negative bacterial infection (both 70.2%). Conclusions: Infection control must target the management of multidrug resistance microbes through encouraging prevention, hygienic, and isolation rules, improving the operational, transfusion, and antimicrobial policy in a teamwork setting.