Effect of Obesity on Clinical and Financial Outcome in Patients Undergoing

Aim/Background: Liver transplantation may not be offered to some individuals at transplant programs because previous reports suggest that obese recipients have poorer outcomes. We assessed the influence of body mass index (BMI) on the outcome of liver transplantation in our liver transplant program. Material/Methods: Patients receiving a liver transplant between 1990 and 2005 were divided according to BMI: group 1, BMI <25 kg/m2; group 2, BMI ≥ 25 and < 30; group 3, BMI ≥ 30 and <35; and group 4, BMI ≥ 35. The impact of BMI on graft survival, pa-tient survival, postoperative complications, length of hospital stay, and overall costs were retrospectively investigated. Results: BMI ranged from 15-42 (mean=26.7). Distribution into the groups was as follows: group 1, n=288 (41.1%); group 2, n=246 (35.1%); group 3, n=129 (18.4%); and group 4, n=37 (5.3%). We could not detect an effect of BMI on patient or graf