Published online Oct 27, 2021. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v13.i10.1405
Peer-review started: April 11, 2021
First decision: June 15, 2021
Revised: June 23, 2021
Accepted: September 23, 2021
Article in press: September 23, 2021
Published online: October 27, 2021
Despite the considerable advances in liver transplantation (LT) surgical techniques and perioperative care, post-LT biliary complications (BCs) remain a significant source of morbidity, mortality, and graft failure. Due to the current high survival rates of LT, the focus has shifted to improving the quality of life of LT recipients.
The data are conflicting regarding the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of LT recipients.
To assess the impact of BCs on the HRQoL of live-donor LT recipients (LDLT-Rs).
We retrospectively analysed data for 25 LDLT-Rs with BCs and described their HRQoL through the Short Form 12 version 2 (SF-12v2) health survey compared to 25 LDLT-Rs without post-LT complications.
The scores of HRQoL of LDLT-Rs with BCs were significantly higher than the norm-based scores in all HRQoL domains except vitality. The LDLT-Rs with BCs had significantly lower scores than LDLT-Rs without BCs in all HRQoL domains (P < 0.001) and in the mental (P < 0.001) and physical (P = 0.0002) component summary scores.
The development of BCs in LDLT-Rs causes a lower range of improvement in HRQoL.
The assessment of HRQoL should be integrated into the clinical care of LT recipients. Identifying the determinants of HRQoL could improve the management plan of these patients through a multidisciplinary approach.