Neurologic complications of critical illness and transplantation

The improvement of survival after organ and tissue transplantation increases the chances that the transplant recipient will survive to experience medical complications. The frequency of neurologic complications after liver transplantation has been reported to be between 13.2% and 47%. Lung transplants are associated with 26% incidence of neurologic complications. After bone marrow transplantation, neurologic complications have been reported in 39% of patients after autologous grafting and have been reported to be as high as 64% after allogeneic transplants. Neurologic complications can occur in the immediate and long-term postoperative periods. Complications can be a result of the primary illness, an effect of the critical illness after transplant, or the side effects from medications administered during the intensive care stay or from the immediate or long-term effects of immunosuppressive medications required to maintain the graft. The neurologic complications caused by the critical illness or immunosuppressive medications after transplantation are addressed in this article. These complications include polyneuropathy, central and extrapontine myelinolysis, seizures, and central nervous system tumors.

Duke Scholars

Author Cherylee Wai Jun Chang Neurology, Neurocritical Care