1980 Volume 21 Issue 10 Pages 1322-1329
Twenty cirrhotic patients were studied fbr endotoxin both in splanchnic blood (portal vein, superior mesenteric vein, splenic vein) and peripheral vein blood.
Endotoxin was positive in portal vein blood in 75% of the patients, in superior mesenteric vein blood in 85%, in splenic vein in 50% and in peripheral vein blood in 40%.
In 8 of the 20 patients, endotoxin was positive in both splanchnic vein blood and peripheral vein blood (A group), and in 9, endotoxin was positive in splanchnic vein blood, but negative in peripheral vein blood (B group).
ICG plasma retention rate as an index of hepatic dysfimction was significantly higher in group A (57±11%) than in group B (30±17%), the difference being significant (p<0.05).
Intra hepatic shunt index was also higher in group A than in group B. However, there was no significant difference in the total- and extrahepatic shunt indices between the two groups.
These findings suggested that reduced functional hepatic mass due to the intrahepatic shunting may play an important role in the development of systemic endotoxemia in patients with cirrhosis.
