BACKGROUND: We sought to determine the association between intraoperative blood loss (IBL) and postoperative morbidity among patients undergoing surgery for liver cancer. METHODS: Patients undergoing surgery for primary and secondary liver cancer were identified from a multi-institutional database. Adjusted blood loss (aBL) was calculated by normalizing IBL to body weight
the comprehensive complication index (CCI) was used to evaluate postoperative complications. RESULTS: A total of 2491 patients were included. Mean CCI was 10.6 (±5.2) for patients with aBL <
10 mL/kg versus 15.2 (±7.2) for individuals with aBL ≥10 mL/kg (p <
0.001). On cubic spline regression, a nonlinear correlation between aBL and CCI was observed. CCI increased exponentially for aBL ranging from 5 to 10 mL/kg, then reached a plateau between an aBL of 10-30 mL/kg before dramatically increasing for aBL >
30 mL/kg. Recursive partitioning technique demonstrated that an aBL threshold of 8.5 mL/kg best distinguished CCI (p <
0.001). Additionally, patients with an aBL ≥8.5 mL/kg had worse recurrence-free and overall survival versus patients with an aBL <
8.5 mL/kg. CONCLUSION: A nonlinear incremental correlation between aBL and CCI was identified among patients undergoing surgery for liver cancer. Maintaining an aBL <
8.5 mL/kg during LR may help reduce postoperative morbidity.