Introduction: Pulmonary complications are one of the leading problems after liver transplantation. The aim of this study is to investigate postoperative early pulmonary complications among adult orthotopic liver transplant recipients.

Materials and Methods: 135 patients (43 women, 92 men) whose medical data can be reached retrospectively were included in the study and the mean age was 40 years (min. 16 /max. 66 years). Postoperative chest X-ray of each patient was evaluated to check for pulmonary complications.

Results: 77 of the 135 patients , whose chest X ray was performed in the early preoperative stage, had radiographic findings of pulmonary complications. Pleural effusion was the most common radiographic finding (n=50, 37%), respectively atelectasis (n=25, 18.5%), consolidation (n=6, 4.4%) and bronchiectasis (n=1, 0.7%) were other detected abnormalities. Pleural effusion was right sided in 25 cases, bilateral in 20 cases, left sided in 2 cases and accompanied by atelectasis in 3 cases. 40 patients underwent thoracentesis(80%). Pleural fluid analysis results were compatible with transudate in 22 cases (55%) and exudate in 18 cases (45%). From 40 thoracentesis specimen sent for pleural fluid culture, 33 were negative (82.5%) and 7 were positive (17.5%)

Conclusions: Early postoperative pulmonary complications were detected in more than a half of liver transplantation recipients. Besides radiologic follow-up, interventional radiologic procedures were also utilised for management of pulmonary problems. First month follow-up is important for early management of pulmonary complications in these cases.