Pre-Implant Moderate-Severe Fibrosis on Liver Biopsy Predicts Adverse Outcomes After Mechanical Circulatory Support

Patients (pts) awaiting mechanical circulatory support (MCS) implantation who have known liver disease from congestive hepatopathy (CH) are at increased risk for morbidity and mortality post-implant. The evaluation of the liver in these pts is difficult as liver imaging and liver biopsy (Bx) may not represent true pathology. Fibrosis on liver biopsy has been acceptable to proceed with MCS however there is contention. Therefore, we assessed our pts being evaluated for MCS with known CH necessitating liver evaluation by either ultrasound (US) or computerized tomography (CT) scans and liver Bx.

Source: The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation - March 25, 2017 Category: Transplant Surgery Authors: R. Mohan, J. Neyer, J. Patel, M. Kittleson, T. Aintablian, R. Levine, D. Chang, L. Czer, J. Moriguchi, J.A. Kobashigawa, F. Arabia Source Type: research