Effect of herbal medicine daikenchuto on oral and enteral caloric intake after liver transplantation: A multicenter, randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Postoperative early oral or enteral intake is a crucial element of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol. However, normal food intake or enteral feeding cannot be started early in the presence of coexisting bowel dysfunction in patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT). The aim of this multicenter, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial was to determine the enhancement effects of the Japanese herbal medicine Daikenchuto (DKT) on oral/enteral caloric intake in patients undergoing LT. METHODS: A total of 112 adult patients undergoing LT at 14 Japanese centers were enrolled. The patients were randomly assigned to receive either DKT or placebo from postoperative day (POD) 1 to 14. The primary endpoints were total oral/enteral caloric intake, abdominal distension, and pain on POD 7. The secondary endpoints included sequential changes in total oral/enteral caloric intake after LT, and portal venous flow volume and velocity in the graft. RESULTS: A total of 104 patients (DKT, n = 55; placebo, n = 49) were included in the analyses. There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of primary endpoints. However, postoperative total oral/enteral caloric intake was significantly accelerated in the DKT group compared with the placebo group (P = 0.023). Moreover, portal venous flow volume (POD 10, 14) and velocity (POD 14) were significantly higher in the DKT group than in the placebo group (P = 0.047, P = 0.025, P = 0.014, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative administration of DKT may enhance total oral/enteral caloric intake and portal venous flow volume and velocity after LT and favorably contribute to the performance of the ERAS protocol.

Successful living donor liver transplantation for acute liver failure after acetylsalicylic acid overdose.

A 20-year-old woman was admitted to an emergency hospital after ingesting 66 g of acetylsalicylic acid in a suicide attempt. Although she was treated with gastric lavage, oral activated charcoal, and intravenous hydration with sodium bicarbonate, her hepatic and renal function gradually deteriorated and serum amylase levels increased. Steroid pulse therapy, plasma exchange, and continuous hemodiafiltration did not yield any improvement in her hepatic or renal function, and she was transferred to our hospital for living donor liver transplantation. Nine days after drug ingestion, she developed hepatic encephalopathy: thus, we diagnosed the patient with acute liver failure with hepatic coma accompanied by acute pancreatitis due to the overdose of acetylsalicylic acid. Living donor liver transplantation was immediately performed using a left lobe graft from the patient's mother. Following transplantation, the patient's renal and hepatic function and consciousness improved, and she was discharged. In this report, we describe a rare case of acetylsalicylic acid-induced acute liver failure with acute hepatic coma and concomitant acute pancreatitis and acute renal failure, which were treated successfully with emergency living donor liver transplantation.