MELD influence on mortality and length of stay in the ICU of more than 10 days was univariately performed with an unpaired t-test. For multivariate analysis we used the method of multiple logistic regression to identify risk factors for length of stay in the ICU and a Cox proportional hazard model to identify independent risk factors for mortality. Calculation of mortality and graft survival was performed by Kaplan Meier analysis. We calculated the baseline characteristics, operative parameters, incidence of ICU complications, rejections and reoperation incidence as the relative and absolute numbers. Data are expressed as mean ± standard deviation; different data expression is stated in the text. All calculations were performed with Statview 4.5 (abacus concepts, Berkeley, CA, USA). Statistical significance was accepted with P < 0.05 (two-sided tests).