MELD Calculator (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease)

The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) system is used to prioritize patients waiting for a liver transplant. This numerical scale is used for adult patients waiting for a transplant. The MELD score ranges from 1 to 40 (gravely ill). The individual score tells you what is the urgency of undergoing a liver transplant during the next 90 days (three months).

If you're looking for more hepatology-related tools, try our:

• Child-Pugh calculator; and
• FIB-4 calculator for fibrosis score.

If you want to calculate your MELD score, you will need to know some of your blood test results. Make sure that the results are recent.

• Creatinine — First of all, you need to know your creatinine level in mg/dL. This is an indicator of kidney malfunction and is also required by our GFR calculator. Normal creatinine levels in blood are approximately 0.6 to 1.2 mg/dL in adult males and 0.5 to 1.1 mg/dL in adult females. If you underwent dialysis twice during the last week, or 24 hours of CVVHD, you should set this value to 4 mg/dL.
• Bilirubin — It is a yellow pigment that is in everyone’s blood and stool. Normal values of total bilirubin are from 0.3 to 1.0 mg/dL.
• INR — The INR is a test of blood clotting. The result is given as a number with no units of measurement, as a ratio of the sample’s prothrombin time (PT — a measure of clotting), to the prothrombin time of a normal sample of blood. A result of 1.0 up to 1.5, is considered normal.
• Sodium — The serum sodium test, also referred to as Na+ test, tells you the level of sodium in your blood. This MELD calculator caps the levels of sodium with the lower limit of 125 and upper limit of 137 mEq/L or mmol/L.

There are actually two formulas for estimating the MELD score. The original one is still used in non-US transplant societies. The new, improved formula was introduced in January 2016 to include the serum sodium level.

The original formula is:

MELDScore = 10 × [(0.957× ln(Creatinine)) + (0.378 × ln(Bilirubin)) + (1.12 × ln(INR))] + 6.43

The MELD score equation that incorporates sodium level bases on this formula and is:

MELDScore (2016) = MELDScore + 1.32 × (137 - sodium) - 0.033 × MELDScore × (137 - sodium)

Your result will fall in the range between 1 and 40. Basing on this result, our MELD score calculator predicts the 90-day mortality:

• MELD score equal to 40: 71.3% mortality
• MELD score between 30 and 39: 52.6% mortality
• MELD score between 20 and 29: 19.6% mortality
• MELD score between 10 and 19: 6.0% mortality
• MELD score equal or less than 9: 1.9% mortality