The impact of pediatric liver transplantation on intellectual development has yet to be determined. We investigated the intellectual outcomes of school-aged patients after living donor liver transplantation for biliary atresia in infancy.
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—fourth edition test was administered to 20 patients who survived \(\ge \) 5 years after living donor liver transplantation. Borderline full scale intelligence quotient was defined as ≤ 85. Pre-, peri-, and postoperative data were compared between patients with > 85 and ≤ 85 to identify predictive factors of borderline performance.
The one-sample t test demonstrated that the mean full scale intelligence quotient of patients after transplantation for biliary atresia was significantly lower than that of the general population (91.8 vs. 100.0, p = 0.026) and 7 (35%) were classified as intellectual borderline functioning. Multivariable logistic regression models were unable to identify any factors predictive of full scale intelligence quotients of ≤ 85.
This is the first study to indicate that the mean full scale intelligence quotient among school-aged patients who underwent living donor liver transplantation for biliary atresia in infancy is significantly lower than that of the general population.
