Background/aims: The typical inflammatory response is frequently absent and the clinical manifestations of complications are often vague in LDLT recipients. So the rapid, sensitive, simple and noninvasive laboratory test may be very useful in postoperative care for LDLT recipients.
Methodology: Excluding 5 pediatric LDLTs and 8 CDLTs, in total 100 adult LDLTs from January 2004 to June 2004 were retrospectively analyzed.
Results: Seventy-three episodes (24.9%) of CRP elevation were related with infection and 22 episodes (7.51%) were related with acute rejection. Sensitivity and specificity of serum CRP in infection and ACR were 0.90 and 0.65, respectively. The serum CRP level showed significant rise in infectious complications. The median peak value was 12.6 mg/dL and the range was 0.5-40.7 mg/dL. And recipients accompanying septic feature showed higher level of peak CRP. The recipients with acute rejection also showed elevated CRP but modest elevation (1.5-8.7 mg/dL). There was no correlation between the severity of rejection and serum CRP level. And the serum CRP rises were more frequently observed than leukocytosis and fever in recipients with infection or rejection.
Conclusions: Serum CRP is quite sensitive but non-specific marker for diagnosis of infection and ACR. Serum CRP was a more sensitive marker for infection and ACR than fever or leukocytosis.