Serum Markers of Ischemia Reperfusion Injury in Liver Transplant Patients

The Departments of Anesthesiology are conducting an observational trial of markers in the serum of patients who are undergoing liver transplantation surgery. This study will utilize the biological markers, trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), NGAL, and cystatin-C, sensitive markers of renal medullary injury in the blood and allantoin, a marker of oxidative stress as indicators of renal injury in a kidney during liver transplants. It is hypothesized that: (1) these markers are less pronounced in living donor liver transplant recipient patients than in cadaveric liver transplant recipients, and (2) these markers are less pronounced in cadaveric liver transplant recipients in which a "piggy-back" technique was used versus recipients in which a total venous occlusion technique was used. This study will be done in a multi-center format, along with researchers at UCSF