Patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis who received nonliver solid organ transplants may be at an increased risk of mortality compared to transplant recipients with normal liver function, according to a recent study published by Dutta et al in Transplantation Proceedings. Investigators compared the outcomes of patients who had biopsy-proven nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (n = 7) with those who had normal liver function tests and imaging (n = 70) following nonliver solid organ transplants from both deceased and living donors. The primary outcome of the study was incidence of all-cause mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events. Patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis were at a greater risk of mortality (HR = 3.24, 95% CI = 1.26–8.33) but did not have a heightened risk of death-censored graft failure (HR = 1.08, 95% CI = 0.14–8.67) or major adverse cardiovascular events (HR = 1.03, 95% CI = 0.23–4.62) compared with those without the disease. In a companion press release on the findings from the University of Minnesota Medical School, the study authors concluded: “It’s unusual that [nonalcoholic steatohepatitis] did not seem to affect the risk of cardiac events. It is possible that transplant [recipients] who develop [the disease] are instead at increased risk [of other complications] that can lead to death, … which we will only identify through further research.”
Risk of Death May Be Higher in Some Transplant Recipients With Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis
Conexiant
April 26, 2024