Determination of prothrombin time by the Ovren method in recipients after liver transplantation from a donor diagnosed with brain death

Objective. To evaluate a new method for diagnosing the state of the hemostatic system in patients with hepatobiliary pathology who underwent liver transplantation from a donor diagnosed with brain death. Materials and Methods. A pilot prospective study was conducted involving 10 patients with liver cirrhosis of various etiologies who underwent liver transplantation from a donor diagnosed with brain death. Laboratory parameters of liver function were analyzed perioperatively, during the first 5 days, on the 10th and 14th day after surgery and before discharge or death. The correlation of the prothrombin time by Ovren with the prothrombin time by Quick and with the international normalization ratio was determined using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. Values of p ˂0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results. The mean number of points on the scale for assessing the severity of liver failure (MELD) before surgery was 27.7 ± 6 (minimum – 15, maximum – 36), which corresponded to severe class C liver failure. The correlation between the value of prothrombin time according to Quick and according to Ovren, as well as between the values of the international normalized ratio and prothrombin time according to Ovren was statistically significantly negative: rs = –0.85315, p (two–sided test) = 0.00042 and rs = –0.90527, p (two–sided test) ˂0.05, respectively. The Ovren prothrombin time was 48% on the 5th day after surgery, after which the functions and reserves of coagulation normalized starting from the 10th day, which is conveniently assessed by an increase in this indicator to 74.5% and above. Conclusions. Determination of the prothrombin time by Ovren can improve the diagnosis of liver failure and monitoring of liver function recovery in patients after liver transplantation from a donor diagnosed with brain death.