Background and Goal of study
Liver transplantation (LT) is the most effective treatment option for liver failure patients. As most LT recipients are subject to postoperative mechanical ventilation in pursuit of hemodynamic stability, the duration of mechanical ventilation tends to be more prolonged in post-LT patients compared to other post-surgical patients. Prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) should be avoided for it is associated with longer ICU stay, higher infection and increased mortality rate. The aim of this study was to investigate clinical risk factors and inflammatory gene polymorphism related to PMV in LT recipients, and to develop clinico-genetic model for predicting PMV. 
Materials and Methods	
Forty-six adult patients scheduled for LT surgery were enrolled. PMV was defined as more than 24 hours of mechanical ventilator care after surgery. 11 polymorphisms from 9 candidate genes known to be associated with PMV and other respiratory complications were inquired. Potentially significant perioperative variables and candidate gene polymorphism from univariate analysis were entered into multivariate logistic regression analysis. 
Results and Discussion
Of 46 patients, 8 patients (17%) experienced PMV. Multivariate analysis using clinical parameters showed male gender, height, weight, child-pugh score, ASA criteria, intraoperative urine output, preoperative neutrophil (%) and hematocrit to be associated with PMV (P <0.05). Among the candidate genes, NFE2L2 was selected as the predictor for PMV (P <0.05) from multivariate analysis. However, none of the parameters showed significance in developing profound clinico-genetic model for predicting PMV. 
Conclusions
As clinical parameters and candidate inflammatory gene polymorphism showed relation to PMV after LT, further study is needed for establishing profound clinico-genetic model for PMV in post-LT patients.

Inflammatory gene polymorphism and prolonged mechanical ventilation after liver transplantation: preliminary study