Postoperative management of the child following liver transplantation

The postoperative care of the paediatric patient following liver transplant requires constant surveillance, monitoring and assessment. This requires close coordination among critical care, anaesthesiology, transplant surgery and hepatology. All play an essential role in the patient’s transplant success. The improvement in patient and graft survival is due in part to better intensive care management and monitoring of potential complications, coupled with a multidisciplinary approach in the management of the transplant recipient [1,2]. This teamwork should begin with a formal handoff from the operating room (OR) to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and continue with daily multidisciplinary rounds involving all services, nursing, pharmacy, nutrition and the family.