High serum Aspartate transaminase levels on day 3 postliver transplantation correlates with graft and patient survival and would be a valid surrogate for outcome in liver transplantation clinical trials

Aspartate transaminase, a liver specific enzyme released into serum following acute liver injury, is used in experimental organ preservation studies as a measure of liver IR injury. Whether post-operative serum transaminases are a good indicator of IR injury and subsequent graft and patient survival in human liver transplantation remains controversial. A single centre prospectively collected liver transplant database was analysed for the period 1988-2012. All patients were followed up for 5 years or until graft failure. Transaminase levels on the 1st, 3rd and 7th post-operative days were correlated with the patient demographics, operative outcomes, post-operative complications and both graft and patient survival via a binary logistic regression analysis. Graft and patient survival at 3 months was 80.3% and 87.5%. AST levels on the 3rd (P = 0.005) and 7th (P = 0.001) post-operative days correlated with early graft loss. Patients were grouped by their AST level (day 3): <107iU, 107-1213iU, 1213-2744iU and >2744iU. The incidence of graft loss at 3 months was 10%, 12%. 27% and 59% and 1-year patient mortality was 12%, 14%, 27% and 62%. Day 3 AST levels correlate with patient and graft outcome postliver transplantation and would be a suitable surrogate endpoint for clinical trials in liver transplantation.