Quality of life 10 years after liver transplantation: The impact of graft histology

AIM: To evaluate the relationship between the state of transplanted liver graft and the recipient quality of life (QOL) of histologically proven lesions in a 10-year post liver transplantation (LT) cohort of patients. METHODS: Seventy-two recipients with a functional first graft at 10 years post-LT underwent liver biopsy and completed a QOL questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore associations between histological, clinical and QOL criteria. RESULTS: Ten years after LT, fibrosis was detected in 53% of patients, and affected the general health perception, while ductopenia, present in 36%, affected the well-being (P = 0.05). Hepatic steatosis (HS) was present in 33% of patients and was associated with the worst QOL score on multiple domains. When compared to patients without HS, patients with HS had significantly higher incidence of fibrosis (P = 0.03), hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (P = 0.007), and more patients had retired from their job (P = 0.03). Recurrent or de novo HCV-associated fibrosis and patient retirement as objective variables, and abdominal pain or discomfort and joint aches or pains as subjective variables, emerged as independent determinants of HS. CONCLUSION: Long-term liver graft lesions, mainly HS presumably as a surrogate marker of HCV infection, may have a substantial impact on QOL 10 years after LT.