Few studies have investigated the role of strict glycemic control during surgery itself. Liver transplantation is a good model for studying glucose control as hyperglycemia almost always occurs and the incidence of infection is higher than with other surgical procedures. We performed a retrospective review of 184 consecutive adult liver recipients in which intra-operative blood glucose levels were measured and treated with insulin. Recipients with strict glycemic control were compared to those with poor control for differences in donor and recipient demographics, intra-operative blood glucose concentrations, intra-operative insulin administered, immunosuppression, post-operative complications, and mortality. Poor glycemic control was associated with a significantly increased rate of infection during the first 30 days post-operatively (48% vs. 33%, P=0.05) and 1-year mortality was significantly increased for those recipients with poor intra-operative glucose control (21.9% vs. 8.8%; P = 0.05). These data along with the post-operative studies, suggest that the post-transplant mortality rate may potentially be decreased by nearly 50% at 1 year and underscore the need for this to be confirmed in a prospective trial.