Mannitol for prevention of acute kidney injury after liver transplantation: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after liver transplantation, which is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this study investigated mannitol as an oxygen-free radical scavenger and its role in the prevention of early AKI after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT). METHODS: A total of 84 adult patients who underwent LDLT were randomly assigned to two equal groups: the M group, where patients received 1 g/kg mannitol 20%, or the S group, where patients received an equal volume of saline. The primary outcome was the incidence of early AKI, defined as a 0.3 mg/dl increase in the serum creatinine 48 h postoperatively. Laboratory assessments of the graft and creatinine were recorded until 3 months after transplantation besides the post-reperfusion syndrome and the intraoperative hemodynamic measurements. RESULTS: The AKI incidence was comparable between groups (relative risk ratio of 1.285, 95% CI 0.598–2.759, P = 0.518). Moreover, AKI stages and serum creatinine 3 months after transplantation, P = 0.23 and P = 0.25, respectively. The incidence of the post-reperfusion syndrome was comparable in both groups, 29/39 (74.4%) and 31/41 (75.6%) in M and S groups, respectively, P = 0.897. The intraoperative hemodynamic parameters showed no significant difference between groups using the area under the curve. CONCLUSION: The current LDLT recipient sample was insufficient to demonstrate that pre-reperfusion 1 g/kg mannitol infusion would reduce the risk of early AKI or post-reperfusion syndrome. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR202203622900599); https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/TrialDisplay.aspx?TrialID=21511. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12871-022-01936-7.