Objective: Quantification of liver function in patients with cirrhosis is difficult. Caffeine clearance (CCI) has been suggested as a more exact method than those commonly used. The aim of this work was to assess the usefulness of CCl in survival prediction for these patients.
Methods: Thirty-four patients with cirrhosis of the liver of various causes were included; 19 were class A or B in Child-Pugh's classification and 15 were class C. CCl was determined from saliva samples. The mean length of follow-up was 33.8 months. A bivariant survival analysis was carried out following the Kaplan-Meier method, together with a multivariant analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model.
Results: Twelve patients died during the follow-up period. CCl values < 0.24 ml/kg/min, age > 60 yr, and nonalcoholic cause of cirrhosis were factors predicting lower survival. CCl was the only independent predictive factor in the multivariant analysis.
Conclusions: CCl enables us to predict survival in cirrhotic patients and, considering its harmlessness, simplicity, and cost, can be used as a routine procedure in the assessment of these patients.