{
  "abstract": "Background/Objectives: The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score reflects pretransplant disease severity, but does not capture intraoperative factors that may influence post-transplant outcomes. This study aimed to develop and internally validate a composite MELD–erythrocyte transfusion (ERT) score for mortality risk stratification after liver transplantation (LT). Methods: This retrospective, single-center cohort study included 125 adult LT recipients between August 2024 and July 2026. A MELD–ERT score (0–2) was constructed using ROC-derived cut-offs for MELD and intraoperative ERT. Prognostic performance for mortality and overall survival (OS) was evaluated using regression, conventional and time-dependent ROC and survival analyses, with bootstrap internal validation. Results: During a median follow-up of 544 days, 30 patients (24.0%) died. MELD and ERT were independently associated with mortality. Mortality increased stepwise across MELD–ERT scores of 0, 1, and 2 (0%, 36.2%, and 59.1%, respectively). The MELD–ERT score showed good discrimination (AUC 0.836, 95% CI 0.776–0.897), with an optimism-corrected AUC of 0.818 after bootstrap validation. Its discrimination was comparable to MELD alone (p = 0.660) and superior to ERT alone (p = 0.002). Time-dependent AUCs for MELD–ERT were 0.893, 0.930, 0.837, and 0.812 at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months, respectively. OS differed significantly across score categories (log-rank p < 0.001), and high-risk patients had a 9.7-month shorter 24-month RMST (95% CI 5.4–14.3; p < 0.001). Conclusions: The MELD–ERT score provides a simple approach to post-LT mortality risk stratification and demonstrated good discrimination after internal validation. However, it did not significantly outperform MELD alone. External validation is warranted.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of General Surgery, Medical Point Hospital, İzmir University of Economics, İzmir 35575, Türkiye"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Bartu Çetin",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6491-5395"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Murat Zeytunlu"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1b64fx1havke5.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/jcm15207903",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "1b64fx1havke5",
  "issns": [
    "2077-0383"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/20/7903",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2746|Organ Transplantation Techniques and Outcomes"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221654808",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-13",
  "publisher": "MDPI AG",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1b64fx1havke5.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:00Z",
      "native_id": "10.3390/jcm15207903",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/15/20/7903"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2746|Organ Transplantation Techniques and Outcomes",
      "subfield": "surgery"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Development and Internal Validation of the MELD–ERT Score for Mortality Risk Stratification After Liver Transplantation",
  "title_text": "Development and Internal Validation of the MELD–ERT Score for Mortality Risk Stratification After Liver Transplantation",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:00Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/1b64fx1havke5",
  "venue": "Journal of Clinical Medicine",
  "versions": []
}