Publications by authors named "Gyu-sam Hwang"

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most common complications after liver transplantation (LT) and can significantly impact outcomes. The presence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection increases the risk of AKI development. However, the impact of HCV on AKI after LT has not been evaluated.

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We evaluated the liver transplantation (LT) criteria in acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), incorporating an urgent living-donor LT (LDLT) program. Critically ill patients with a Chronic Liver Failure Consortium (CLIF-C) ACLF score (CLIF-C_ACLF_score) ≥65, previously considered unsuitable for LT, were included to explore the excess mortality threshold of the CLIF-C_ACLF_score (CLIF-C_ACLF_score_threshold). We followed 854 consecutive patients with ACLF (276 ACLF grade 2 and 215 ACLF grade 3) over 10 years among 4432 LT recipients between 2008 and 2019.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Different drugs were administered to manipulate cardiac contractility and vascular resistance, and the correlation between heart sound changes (specifically S1 amplitude) and blood pressure metrics was analyzed.
  • * The findings suggest that changes in S1 amplitude are closely linked to cardiac contractility variations, but not significantly related to vascular resistance changes, indicating the potential for non-invasive monitoring of hemodynamic conditions.
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Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most common complications after living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) that has great impact on recipient and graft outcomes. Dexmedetomidine is reported to decrease the incidence of AKI. In the current study, the authors investigated whether intraoperative dexmedetomidine infusion would reduce the AKI following LDLT.

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Background: With the rise of metabolic diseases and aging in liver transplant (LT) candidates, mitral annular calcification (MAC) is more recognizable. Despite cardiovascular risk becoming a leading cause of mortality in LT recipients, the influence of MAC remains unexamined. This study investigates the prevalence, related factors, and impact of MAC on LT outcomes.

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Introduction And Objectives: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is prevalent and has deleterious effects on postoperative outcomes following liver transplantation (LT). The impact of nonselective beta-blockers (NSBBs) in patients with liver cirrhosis remains controversial. This study investigated the association between preoperative NSBB use and AKI after living donor LT (LDLT).

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(1) Background: Liver transplantation (LT) is associated with significant hemorrhage and massive transfusions. Fibrinogen replacement has a key role in treating massive bleeding during LT and hypofibrinogenemia is treated by fibrinogen concentrate or cryoprecipitate. However, these two products are known to be associated with major thromboembolism events (MTEs).

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Background: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a life-threatening disease that requires urgent liver transplantation (LT). Accurate identification of high-risk patients is essential for predicting post-LT survival. The chronic liver failure consortium ACLF score is a widely accepted risk-stratification score that includes total white blood cell (WBC) counts as a component.

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Background: Excessive visceral obesity in recipients of living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is associated with mortality, and a recent study reported the correlation between visceral adiposity of male LDLT recipients and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence. However, there is no study on the relationship between the donor's visceral adiposity and surgical outcomes in LDLT recipients. We investigated the association of the visceral-to-subcutaneous fat area ratio (VSR) in donors and recipients with HCC recurrence and mortality in LDLT.

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Background: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and its risk factors are increasingly recognized in patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD).

Objectives: The aim of this study was to characterize HFpEF and identify relevant risk factors in patients with ESLD. Additionally, the prognostic impact of high-probability HFpEF on post-liver transplantation (LT) mortality was investigated.

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Background: High B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels within the first 3 postoperative days (postBNPPOD3) after liver transplantation (LT) are greatly predictive of the 30-day mortality. We evaluated clinical impact of transient decrease in postBNPPOD3 compared to pretransplant BNP (preBNP) level on mortality and major adverse cardiac event (MACE) within 30 days after LT.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 3,811 LT patients who measured delta BNP (deltaBNP), defined by serial postBNPPOD3 minus preBNP.

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Background: Diastolic dysfunction is regarded as an important predictor of outcome after liver transplantation (LT). We investigated the influence of liver disease severity on left ventricular diastolic properties using end-diastolic pressure-volume relationship (EDPVR) analysis in patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD). Association between alterations of the EDPVR and mortality after LT was evaluated.

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Background: A recent study reported a correlation between the muscle mass of male donors and graft failure in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) recipients. We investigated the association of sex-specific donor skeletal muscle index (SMI) with mortality and graft failure in LDLT recipients.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed 2750 sets of donors and recipients between January 2008 and January 2018.

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Background: Considering the importance of the inflammatory status of recipients on outcomes following liver transplantation (LT), we investigated the association between C-reactive protein-to-albumin ratio (CAR) and one-year mortality following LT and compared it with other parameters reflecting patients' underlying inflammatory status.

Methods: A total of 3,614 consecutive adult LT recipients were retrospectively evaluated. Prognostic parameters were analyzed using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) analysis, and subsequent cutoffs were derived.

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Background: Patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) are critically ill and have high waiting-list mortality. Although studies demonstrated that appropriately treated coronary artery disease (CAD) should not be regarded as a contraindication to liver transplant (LT), data regarding long-term outcomes in critically ill liver LT recipients are lacking. The aim of this study was to compare the rates of all-cause death at 5 years following LT in patients with ACLF with or without CAD.

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Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is increasing worldwide due to the aging population and cardiometabolic syndrome. However, the extent of postoperative myocardial injury, the most common cause of death during the 30 days after noncardiac surgery, remains unclear with respect to liver transplant (LT) patients with CAD. We examined the link between post-LT high sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs_cTnI) and long-term survival according to liver disease severity.

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Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has been used sporadically in adult orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) recipients for the treatment of acute cardiopulmonary failure. This retrospective study aimed to identify OLT patients who would benefit from ECMO support. We reviewed 109 OLT patients who received ECMO support for more than 24 h from January 2007 to December 2020.

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Background: Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has been associated with massive transfusion. However, information on indicators predicting transfusion in LDLT is limited. This study investigates the association between red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and intraoperative transfusion in LDLT recipients.

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There is a paucity of evidence about the coagulation profile regarding the complexity of children undergoing liver transplantation (LT). This study aimed to investigate intraoperative hemostatic changes during pediatric LT according to the etiology for LT and examine the ability of rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM , TEM International GmbH, Munich, Germany) as a point-of-care monitoring method. We evaluated 106 patients aged 3 months to 17 years undergoing LT for acute liver failure (ALF) and chronic liver disease, which consists of patients with cholestatic disease, metabolic/genetic disease, and cancer.

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Recent studies have reported that sarcopenia influences morbidity and mortality in surgical patients. However, few studies have investigated the associations of sarcopenia with short-term and long-term graft failure in recipients after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). In this study, we investigated the associations between sarcopenia and graft failure/mortality in patients undergoing LDLT.

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Background: Generally, lactate levels > 2 mmol/L represent hyperlactatemia, whereas lactic acidosis is often defined as lactate > 4 mmol/L. Although hyperlactatemia is common finding in liver transplant (LT) candidates, association between lactate and organ failures with Acute-on-chronic Liver Failure (ACLF) is poorly studied. We searched the important variables for pre-LT hyperlactatemia and examined the impact of preoperative hyperlactatemia on early mortality after LT.

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Background: We aimed to explore the distribution of intraoperative lactic acid (LA) level during liver transplantation (LT) and determine the optimal cutoff values to predict post-LT 30-day and 90-day mortality.

Methods: Intraoperative LA data from 3,338 patients were collected between 2008 to 2019 and all-cause mortalities within 30 and 90 days were retrospectively reviewed. Of the three LA levels measured during preanhepatic, anhepatic, and neohepatic phase of LT, the peak LA level was selected to explore the distribution and predict early post-LT mortality.

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Background: Excessive citrate load during therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) can cause metabolic alkalosis with compensatory hypercarbia and electrolyte disturbances. If TPE is required immediately before ABO-incompatible (ABOi) liver transplant (LT) surgery, metabolic derangement and severe electrolyte disturbance could worsen during LT anesthesia.

Case: We report two ABOi LT cases who received TPE on the day of surgery because isoagglutinin titers did not be dropped below 1:8.

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Background: Although living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) is the standard treatment option for patients with end-stage liver disease, it always entails ethical concerns about the risk of living donors. Recent studies have reported a correlation between sarcopenia and surgical prognosis in recipients. However, there are few studies of donor sarcopenia and the surgical prognosis of donors.

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We aimed to determine the association between the preoperative antithrombin III (ATIII) level and postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) after LT (post-LT AKI). We retrospectively evaluated 2395 LT recipients between 2010 and 2018 whose data of perioperative ATIII levels were available. Patients were divided into two groups based on the preoperative level of ATIII (ATIII < 50% vs.

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