Objective:To screen for the perioperative risk factors contributing to early mortality in liver transplant recipients,so as to lay a foundation for improving the survival rate after transplantation.Methods: The clinical data of 307 patients,who received liver transplantation (LT) between May 2001 and Sep.2005 in Changzheng Hospital,were retrospectively investigated.Risk factors that might contribute to early postoperative mortality(early mortality was defined as death before the first permission of discharge from hospital) were subjected to univariate analyses.Factors of significance were analyzed by means of Logistic regression to screen for high risk factors.Results: The clinical data of 4 patients were excluded due to incompleteness and the remaining 303 patients were included in the present study.Results of univariate analyses showed that 20 factors were related to early mortality after LT,including the gender,Child-pugh classification,hepatic encephalopathy,hepatorenal syndrome,time of extubation,leukocyte count,preoperative hematoglobin concentration,blood urea nitrogen,creatinine,prothrombin time(PT),serum sodium and potassium level,volume of ascites,duration of operation,urine volume during operation,massive blood transfusion,volume of sodium bicarbonate during operation,PaO2 when breathing air,bilirubin,and model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score.Results of multifactor Logistic regression analysis showed that 5 factors were independent risk factors of early mortality after LT,including female gender,low serum sodium level,long operative time,large volume of blood transfusion (>7 500 ml),and high MELD score.Conclusion:It is indicated that female gender,low serum sodium level,long operative time,large volume of blood transfusion and high MELD score are risk factors for early motality after LT.