Preoperative Liver Stiffness is Associated With Hospital Length of Stay After Cardiac Surgery

Objectives: Risk assessment models for cardiac surgery do not account for the degrees of liver dysfunction. Ultrasound shear-wave elastography measures liver stiffness (LSM), a quantitative measurement related to fibrosis, congestion, and inflammation. The authors hypothesized that preoperative liver stiffness would be associated with hospital length of stay after cardiac surgery.

Design: Prospective observational study.

Setting: University hospital, single center.

Participants: One hundred five adult patients undergoing nonemergent cardiac surgery.

Interventions: Preoperative liver stiffness measured by ultrasound elastography.

Measurements and main results: The associations were analyzed using linear mixed models, with adjustments for preoperative variables, duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, and type of surgery. Median liver stiffness was 6.4 kPa (range, 4.1-18.6 kPa). The median length of hospital stay was 6 days (range, 3-18 d). Each unit increase in liver stiffness, treated as a continuous variable, was associated with an increase of 0.32 ± 0.10 days in the hospital (p = 0.002). When treated as a categorical variable (<6 kPa, 6-9.4 kPa, and ≥9.5 kPa), LSM ≥9.5 kPa v LSM <6 kPa was associated strongly with an increase in hospital length of stay of 3.25 ± 0.87 days (p = 0.0003).

Conclusions: A preoperative LSM ≥9.5 kPa was associated with a significantly longer postoperative hospital length of stay. This association appeared independent of preoperative comorbidities commonly associated with coronary disease. Preoperative liver stiffness is a novel risk metric that is associated with the postoperative hospital length of stay after cardiac surgery.