Post-Liver Transplantation Diabetes Mellitus: Concise Literature Review and Own Experience

The collective accomplishments of the liver transplant community have resulted in satisfactory 5- and 10-year patient and graft survival. Within the increasing cohort of transplant recipients, metabolic complications are becoming a main reason for non-graft related mortality. Post-liver transplantation diabetes mellitus (PLTDM) is a well-documented disorder, adversely affecting recipient survival, a main risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and CVD-related mortality. The incidence of PLTDM varies between 9-63%. Calcineurin inhibitors (CINs) and corticosteroids are the principal mediators in the pathogenesis of this disease. We performed a brief review of the literature and retrospectively analyzed our own experience. For immunosuppression we use standard protocol of corticosteroids, tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil. The frequency of PLTDM in our series is 20%. We did not find a connection between recipient age, BMI, lipid status, underlying liver disease or acute rejection episode with the development of sustained PLTDM.