Failure to Rescue in ALF

journals.lww.com March 12, 2025

The concept of failure to rescue has been used to measure the quality of care for complications developed following surgery.

In patients with acute liver failure (ALF), the concept of failure to rescue highlights the need to improve prevention, early detection, and timely management of medical complications developing early in the hospital stay.

Among 665 patients with ALF, 478 (71.9%) were females and median (IQR) age was 42 (30-55) years.

Acetaminophen intoxication was observed in 322 (48.4%) patients.

Overall, 461 (69.3%) patients had at least one medical complication on the first day post inclusion (median (IQR) number of 1 (0-3)).

The failure to rescue rate for the 12 complications was 32.8%.

This is a retrospective multicenter cohort including consecutive patients with ALF within the United States ALF Study Group (USALFSG) prospective registry from 2010 to 2016.