Abstract

Patients with liver disease requiring surgical procedures are at increased perioperative risk. In addition, the deleterious effect of anesthesia on hepatocellular function, altered drug pharmacokinetics, aberrant hemostasis, postoperative encephalopathy and infection, with multiorgan failure, all contribute to perioperative morbidity and mortality. Although limited by the lack of widely accepted quantitative liver function tests, preoperative evaluation and risk assessment is imperative. Acute viral hepatitis, alcoholic hepatitis, refractory coagulopathy, Child's class C cirrhosis, and emergent surgery are major risk factors predictive of a poor outcome. In addition, elective abdominal surgical procedures should be avoided in potential candidates for orthotopic liver transplantation. Identification and correction of reversible risk factors via meticulous preoperative definition of the etiology, chronicity, and severity of the patient's liver disease within the confines of surgical urgency is the goal of the preoperative hepatology consultation.