The hepatic wedge pressure and venogram vs. the intraparenchymal liver pressure and venogram

Microcirculatory changes in right lobe grafts in living-donor liver transplantation: a near-infrared spectrometry study

BACKGROUND

A continuing shortage of cadaveric liver even for adult patients has motivated not a few centers to proceed to living-donor liver transplantation using right lobe grafts. One of controversies is potential congestion in the graft anterior segment by the deprivation of the middle hepatic vein.

METHODS

Hepatic tissue oxygenation and hemoglobin concentration were investigated with a near-infrared spectroscopy in the course of harvesting and implantation in living-donor liver transplantation. Twenty adult recipients of right lobe graft were involved in the study. The aim of the analysis was to detect tissue congestion or ischemia.

RESULTS

No significant change in mean hepatic tissue oxygenation and hemoglobin was noted in the right lobe during donor operation even after hepatic parenchymal transection, although some trend for relative congestion, i.e., increased tissue hemoglobin, compared with the left lobe was observed. After graft reperfusion in the recipient, both mean hepatic tissue oxygen saturation and hemoglobin decreased significantly in the anterior segment, which was accompanied by increased heterogeneity of tissue hemoglobin and oxygenation. Increased heterogeneity of oxygenation and decreased tissue hemoglobin were observed also in the posterior segment.

CONCLUSIONS

The anterior segment in right lobe living-donor liver transplantation is sensitive to ischemia, rather than congestion, at least in the immediate phase after graft reperfusion. The anterior segment seems to be also more prone to circulatory disturbance than the other part of the graft.

Portal vein flow pattern in portal hypertension

The portal vein flow pattern in different degrees of portal hypertension is discussed based on the findings at arterial and transhepatic portography. Injection studies on normal and cirrhotic cadaver liver have been used to explain the microcirculation of the liver when hepatic vein catheterisation and wedged pressure recordings are performed.

Hepatic venography of normal and regenerating dog liver

Total and selective hepatic vein angiographies were performed preoperatively and 6 weeks after 70 per cent liver resection in 6 dogs. The alterations in the hepatic vein system, increased diameter and elongation of the remaining lobar veins and their major tributaries plus increased angle between the radicles, are consistent with the findings earlier described by angiography of the hepatic arterial and portal venous system after major hepatic resection in dogs.

Clinical value of hepatic vein catheterization. Improved pracability by balloon catheter technique

Techniques of hepatic vein catheterization, hepatic venous pressure measurement, and occlusion phlebography using a balloon catheter are described. Hepatic venous pressure measurements (n=95) and hepatic occlusion phlebography were combined in 32 cases. In patients with liver cirrhosis (n=63) a significant elevation of hepatic venous pressure gradients was found. A decrease of the pressure gradient was seen after portacaval and splenorenal shunt operations. Hepatic occlusion phlebography showed alterations of hepatic veins only in patients with cirrhosis. A rough correlation between pressure gradients and the extent of changes in the liver veins was found. Hepatic occlusion phlebography, in patients who had undergone shunt procedure, demonstrated various collaterals. Combined hepatic vein pressure measurements and hepatic occlusion phlebography using a balloon catheter are proposed as a very suitable method for the evaluation of chronic liver disease and portal hypertension.