Objectives: Elevation of transaminases has been used as a marker of hepatic ischemic injury and as a crucial parameter for liver graft assessment. However, analysis of serum transaminases has limitations regarding the quantitative assessment of liver necrosis and is not a reliable predictor of outcomes.
Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all liver transplants (N = 238) performed at the UMass Memorial Medical Center from 2009 to 2013.
Results: Fourteen liver grafts showed high peak aminotransferases alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) at > 1000 U/L. This high aminotransferase group was compared with 224 donors with low transaminase levels (ALT/AST < 1000 U/L). The high transaminase donors had a median peak AST level of 3216 U/L (range, 1823-13?030 U/L) and ALT level of 2677 U/L (range, 812-7080 U/L). The high transaminase donors showed higher levels of lactate dehydrogenase, international normalized ratio, total bilirubin, and gamma-glutamyltransferase compared with low transaminase donors; however, only lactate dehydrogenase results reached statistical significance. None of the grafts from the high transaminase donors showed primary nonfunction. Three-year graft and patient survival rates were similar in both groups (75% vs 80% [P = .48] and 72% vs 82% [P = .33], respectively). In an analysis of the discard rate of livers over a 10-year period in the United States using the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients database, the discard rate of livers with high aminotransferase levels was 69.14% compared with 22.23% for livers with low transaminase levels.
Conclusions: Liver grafts from donors with high transaminase levels can lead to clinical results that are similar to liver grafts from donors who had lower peak transaminase levels.