Long-term Outcome of Pediatric Liver Transplant Recipients Who Have Reached Adulthood: A Single-center Experience

BACKGROUND: As long-term survival of pediatric liver transplant recipients increases, the assessment of physical, psychological, and social well-being becomes more important.

METHODS: In this retrospective analysis, 120 young adult patients (age ≥18 y) who underwent liver transplantation in childhood were studied. Patients with ideal outcome were defined as patients with perfect graft function, with no complications from the immunosuppressive medication, no late retransplantation, and no steroid treatment. Also, the patients' drug adherence and their psychosocial situation were assessed.

RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 19 y, only 16.7% of the patients (mean age: 26.5 y) were considered patients with ideal outcome. The main reasons precluding ideal outcome were chronic kidney disease (38.3%), elevated liver enzymes (33.3%), and arterial hypertension (31.7%). Ideal outcome decreased over time from 54% to 42%, 26%, and 8% at 10-, 15-, 20-, and 25-y follow-up, respectively. Reduced drug adherence was noted in 24.8% of patients and associated with a significantly higher prevalence of donor-specific antibodies class II ( P  = 0.015), elevated transaminases ( P  = 0.010), and chronic rejection ( P  < 0.001). Also, 15% of patients had a psychiatric disease, mainly depression.

CONCLUSIONS: The morbidity of young adults who underwent liver transplantation as children was high and increased over time. The majority developed complications from immunosuppression or chronic graft dysfunction. More than 1 in 7 patients had a psychiatric disease and 1 in 4 was not perfectly drug adherent. Therefore, immunosuppressive treatment and psychological care should be optimized for these particularly vulnerable patients.