Liver transplant survivors nutritionally compromised

Survivors of a childhood liver transplant remain nutritionally compromised in the years following surgery, a new study has found.

Researchers studied 32 children under 18 scheduled for a liver transplant, measuring their total body mass before and after transplant.

They found the patients’ body cell mass was reduced prior to the liver transplant and reduced further after the transplant despite their height and weight returning to normal.

According to the researchers, the findings suggest childhood transplant recipients’ return to healthy weight and height can be attributed to an increase in fat mass while body cell mass remained low.

This indicated a slim body composition with little lean muscle mass or “skinny fat”.