Epidemiologic Study on the Incidence of Biliary Complications after Liver Transplantation

Introduction: Biliary complications after hepatic transplantation have a variable incidence of 10 to 25% among all complications after hepatic transplantation and mortality reported up to 10%, have an important impact on the patient’s quality of life, since it implies the need for hospitalizations and multiple interventions for treatment. They are more frequent in the first year after transplantation, with progressive reduction of the frequency after 1 year.Objective: To evaluate the risk factors of greater impact in the development of bile duct stenosis in patients after liver transplantation.Methods: One hundred and eighty-eight charts of liver transplant patients were retrospectively evaluated. Inclusion criteria: liver transplanted patients from 2011 to December 2017. Exclusion criteria: deaths that occurred between the first month after transplantation, incomplete medical records and most cases of retransplants, except for patients who retransplanted as a consequence of their own complication.Results: Biliary complications were present in 14% (N=26) of the patients. Of these, 52% (N=21) presented stenosis of the biliary tract, followed by other complications such as cholangitis (20%), fistula calculation (10%), bilioma (3%). Among patients with bile duct stenosis, 19% (N=4) presented non-anastomotic stenosis and 81% (N=17) anastomotic stenosis. The cause of hepatopathy was in 42% of patients (N=9) ethanolic, followed by other causes such as: viral hepatitis, cryptogenic, autoimmune, fulminant hepatitis, NASH, CEP, glycogenosis and 1 case of secondary retransplantation to the bile complication itself.Conclusion: The incidence of biliary complications is comparable with the incidence reported in other institutions. The low incidence of bile duct stenosis reduces the power of the study to identify the most impacting risk factors.