Hemodialysis-induced hyperglycemia after liver transplantation.

Background/aims: One might hypothesize that hemodialysis, by cleansing the blood of metabolic waste, might elevate the patient's sensitivity to insulin. The results of this study show that hypothesis is untrue in the case of liver transplant patients.

Methodology: Glucose levels of five liver transplant patients, whom underwent 24 hemodialysis sessions in total, were compared with that of five non-liver transplantation patients, whom had undergon 21 hemodyalisis sessions in total.

Results: For liver transplant patients, Glucose levels at two, four, six and eight hours but the ten hours were significantly higher compared with that at the onset of the sessions (p<0.05). In contrast, this phenomenon could not be found in non-liver transplant patients (p>0.05).

Conclusions: The patients who have undergone liver transplantation are more likely to experience hyperglycemia during hemodyalisis than patients who have not undergone liver transplantation.