Effects of paired donors’ and recipients’ preoperative serum sodium on the prognosis of liver transplantation

Abstract Background Dysnatremia is common in donors and recipients of liver transplantation (LT). However, the influence of dysnatremia on LT prognosis remains controversial. This study aimed to investigate effects of paired donors’ and recipients’ serum sodium on LT prognosis. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 248 patients who underwent orthotopic LT at our center between January 2016 and December 2018. Donors and recipients perioperative and 3-year postoperative clinical data were included. Delta serum sodium was defined as the donors’ serum sodium minus the paired recipients’ serum sodium. Results Donors with serum sodium > 145 mmol/L had significantly higher preoperative blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (P < 0.01) and creatinine (Cr) (P < 0.01) than others, preoperative total bilirubin (TBIL) (P < 0.01), direct bilirubin (DBIL) (P < 0.01), BUN (P < 0.01), Cr (P < 0.01) were significantly higher in the hyponatremia group of recipients than the other groups, but both of donors’ and recipients’ serum sodium had no effect on the LT prognosis. In the delta serum sodium < 0 mmol/L group, TBIL (P < 0.01) and DBIL (P < 0.01) were significantly higher in postoperative 1 week than the other groups, but delta serum sodium had no effect on the postoperative survival rates. Conclusions Dysnatremia in donors and recipients of LT have no effect on postoperative survival rates, hepatic and renal function, but recipients with higher serum sodium than donors have significantly poor hepatic function at 1 week postoperatively.