Pretransplant lymphocyte count predicts the incidence of infection during the first two years after liver transplantation.

Patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) show a low absolute number of peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations (PBLSs). We investigated if the baseline PBLS could categorize orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) recipients into groups at high or low risk for infection after transplantation. PBLSs were prospectively studied in 63 consecutive patients (42 males; mean age +/- standard deviation: 53.