[Atrial natriuretic factor in liver cirrhosis. Relation to hemodynamic parameters].

In 12 patients with cirrhosis of the liver (six with ascites) and six controls the authors made catheterizations of the hepatic veins and portal circulation, assessing concurrently the in cardiac output by thermodilution. The patients with ascitic cirrhosis had, as compared with controls, a significantly higher portohepatic gradient, central venous pressure, mean pressure in the pulmonary artery and also pulmonary capillary wedged pressure and a significantly lower mean arterial pressure and systemic vascular resistance. These patients had also, as compared with controls, a significantly higher concentration of ANF (atrial natriuretic factor) in the pulmonary artery (15.89 +/- 2.26 vs. 8.04 +/- 0.97, p less than 0.01) and in the hepatic vein (7.44 +/- 0.44 vs. 3.91 +/- 0.63, p less than 0.01); the difference between ANF concentrations in the peripheral blood stream was not significant (9.52 +/- 2.46 vs. 5.71 +/- 1.24 n. s.). Patients with ascitic cirrhosis of the liver had a significantly higher calculated cardiac production of ANF than controls (24.36 +/- 3.44 vs. 8.12 +/- 2.9, p less than 0.01); the difference in the splanchnic extraction of ANF between patients with ascitic cirrhosis of the liver (0.46 +/- 0.1) and controls (0.51 +/- 0.06) was not significant. The ANF concentration in the pulmonary artery in patients with cirrhosis of the liver correlated significantly with the central venous pressure (r = 0.677, p = 0.02) and the pressure in the pulmonary artery in a wedged position (r = 0.639, p = 0.03).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)