Hepatopulmonary syndrome and vasoactive factors

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate plasma levels of vasoactive factors which may play a role in the altered vascular tone of pulmonary circulation during hepatic failure. In the 85 patients with hepatic dysfunction studied we obtained: ET-1:0.66+/-0.30, 1.35+/-0.30, 1.73+/-0.41 fmol/ml; Big-ET-1:1.42+/-0.14, 1.91+/-0.22, 2.26+/-0.20 fmol/ml; NO: 58.3+/-2.91, 68.0+/-4.44, 72.12+/-8.73 mumol/l; AM:14.7+/-1.78, 18.9+/-1.70, 23.14+/-3.08 pmol/l; ANP:17.8+/-3.96, 20.7+/-4.66, 23.7+/-5.25 pg/ml; BNP:27.4+/-6.23, 49.0+/-17.7, 63.5+/-16.1 pg/ml; DNP:230.8+/-18.6, 287.3+/-19.6, 270.7+/-27.8 pg/ml for Child-Pugh class A n=20, class B n=36, class C n=29, respectively. The vasoactive peptide increase, associated with the progression of hepatic dysfunction, suggests that they may, by the way, contribute to circulatory and gas exchange modifications.