Blood pressure response to [1-sarcosine, 8-isoleucine] angiotensin II in patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites.

[1-Sarcosine, 8-Isoleucine] angiotensin II was given to 8 patients with cirrhosis and ascites and 7 cirrhotic patients without ascites on a regular diet. The 3 ascitic patients with high plasma renin activity (PRA) gave a depressor response, but the other ascite patients with normal or low PRA gave a pressor response or no response. All the non-ascitic patients gave a pressor response. There was an inverse correlation between the PRA before infusion and the change in blood pressure induced by this compound. In the patient with the highest PRA, who had ascites of a few days' duration, a marked reduction in blood pressure was observed on infusion of this compound. These results suggest that the renin-angiotensin system might be involved in maintenance of a normal blood pressure in some patients with cirrhosis and ascites, whose ascites is presumably in an early stage.