Hepatic artery flow improvement after portacaval shunt: a single hemodynamic clinical correlate.

We have documented a highly significant increment in hepatic arterial flow following a portacaval shunt in patients with cirrhosis of the liver and portal hypertension. In contrast with other hemodynamic variables, the increment in arterial flow was directly related to morbidity, hospital mortality, and long term survival. Patients with increments smaller than 100 ml/min had the worst clinical results. They accounted for all of the hospital mortality, the largest incidence of encephalopathy, and the worst long term cumulative survival rates. The extent of the increment was not related directly to the type of shunt but, rather, to some intrinsic capability of the cirrhotic liver to increase its arterial flow in response to the relief of sinusoidal hypertension produced by the shunt. This capablilty appears related to the degree of entrapment of the hepatic arterioles by the fibrous tissues of cirrhosis. This encasement of arterioles should change the elastic properties of the hepatic arterial bed and we propose to measure these properties by determining the characteristic input impedance of the arterial bed.