Preoperative abnormal body composition is closely related to bacteremia after living donor liver transplantation

Abstract Objective Infection is the most critical cause of early death after liver transplantation (LT). However, the effect of preoperative body composition on bacteremia after LT is unclear. This study examined the impact of preoperative body composition on bacteremia after living donor LT (LDLT). Methods Patients comprised 277 patients who underwent LDLT at our institute between January 2008 and June 2016. We evaluated body composition parameters including skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), intramuscular adipose tissue content (IMAC), and visceral to subcutaneous adipose tissue area ratio (VSR) using preoperative plain computed tomography at the L3 level. We compared incidence of bacteremia, species, period of antibiotic administration, mortality due to bacteremia, and survival rates according to the number of abnormal body composition factors (low SMI, high IMAC, and high VSR). Moreover, risk factors for posttransplant bacteremia were examined. Results Incidence of bacteremia was significantly higher in patients with 3 abnormal factors (47.1%), 2 factors (42.0%), or 1 factor (37.0%) than in patients with 0 factors (22.5%) (P = 0.027). Species of bacteremia did not differ significantly among the 4 groups. Period of antibiotic administration was significantly shorter (P = 0.039) and mortality of patients with bacteremia and survival rates were significantly better (P Conclusion Preoperative abnormal body composition was closely related to bacteremia after LDLT.