Research

Hormonal

Post-liver transplantation sarcopenia (loss of skeletal muscle mass) is common and significantly increases the risk of new-onset diabetes mellitus and trends toward higher mortality, independent of pre-transplant characteristics or immunosuppression type.

If you have had a liver transplant, do not assume your muscle mass will recover on its own. This study shows that muscle loss is common after surgery and significantly increases your risk of developing diabetes. You should have your muscle mass monitored via CT scans or other methods and discuss specific strategies to preserve or build muscle with your healthcare team, as this impacts your long-term survival and metabolic health.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Loss of muscle mass post-OLT increased risk of diabetes mellitus and a trend toward higher mortality.
Cynthia Tsien et al. · Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology · 2014

Why this rating

Prospective cohort study with a moderate sample size (n=53), but small subset for molecular mechanisms (n=3).

Source

Post‐liver transplantation sarcopenia in cirrhosis: A prospective evaluation

Cynthia Tsien et al. · Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology · 2014

DOI 10.1111/jgh.12524

cohort · n=53Cited 181×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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