ObjectiveTo investigate pathological changes of liver and risk factors for hepatic injury after trauma, in order to provide the instructions for clinical liver transplantation and accumulate the pathological data. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 142 patients who died after trauma between January 2010 and December 2014. Based on whether the patients had acute liver damage before dying, they were divided into two groups. The observation group had liver damage before dying, while the control group had not. Combined with the details of trauma, clinical data and autopsy results, we statistically analyzed the pathological changes of liver and risk factors for acute liver damage, including age, gender, trauma kind, trauma site, interval between trauma and hospitalization, damage degree, length of hypotension, the use of more than two vasopressors, large amount of blood transfusion, and complication of shock, infection, or underlying diseases. According to injury severity score (ISS) system, the damage degree was divided into mild damage (ISS<16), moderate damage (ISS≥16 and<25), and severe damage (ISS≥25). ResultsAmong the 142 patients, there were 45 in the observation group with varying degrees of liver cell necrosis, among whom there were 8 mild cases, 14 moderate and 23 severe. There were 97 patients in the control group without acute liver damage, and no significant changes were found in their hepatic tissue. Liver damage was not correlated with age, gender, damage kind, damage site, or pre-hospital time (P>0.05), while it was corrected with the degree of damage, time of hypotension (≥0.5 hour), the use of more than two vasopressors, large amount of blood transfusion (2 000 mL/24 hours), and combination of shock, infection, and other disease except for cardiac and pulmonary diseases (P<0.05). ConclusionWhen using donor livers from patients dying from trauma for transplantation, physicians should be alert to the factors discussed previously which can increase the risk of hepatic injury. Biopsy is useful to assess the suitability of donor livers prior to transplantation.