Prevalence and outcome of Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in living donor liver transplant (LDLT) patients in a developing country.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia was rare after living donor liver transplant but sharply raised mortality
Prevalence and outcome of Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in living donor liver transplant (LDLT) patients in a developing country.
There is limited data on the prevalence of ventilator-associated pneumonia following liver transplantation from developing countries, especially in living donor liver transplant (living donor liver transplant) patients.
This retrospective study reviewed 324 patients who underwent living donor liver transplant at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre (Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre) between January 1 st , 2022 to December 31 st , 2023.
over half of ventilator-associated pneumonia patients died, far exceeding mortality without ventilator-associated pneumonia
Among 324 liver transplant patients, 253 (78.1%) were male and 71 (21.9%) were female.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV; 58.95%) was the most common cause of end-stage liver disease (end-stage liver disease) requiring transplantation.
A pre-operative Child-Turcotte-Pugh (Child-Turcotte-Pugh) score >13 was associated with higher post-operative mortality (p-value 0.041).
The presence of ventilator-associated pneumonia significantly increased intensive care units (intensive care units) length of stay (p-value 0.018) and mortality (p-value 0.001).
This study showed a low prevalence of ventilator-associated pneumonia in living donor liver transplant patients; however, they stayed in the intensive care units for longer periods and had higher mortality.
Considering the complexity and cost of liver transplantation and intensive care units care, adherence to ventilator-associated pneumonia bundles and purpose-built facilities would prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia and minimize the cost specifically in countries with limited resources.