title: Hyposensitivity to vasopressin in patients with hepatitis B-related cirrhosis during acute variceal hemorrhage.
abstract: It has been suggested that vasopressin given during hemorrhage may be less effective than when given during a stable state in a portal-hypertensive rat model. This study was designed to evaluate the hemodynamic response to vasopressin infusion in 25 HBsAg-positive cirrhotic patients. Nine patients had active variceal hemorrhage before vasopressin infusion, and the other 16 patients were in a stable condition at the time of infusion. The two groups of patients were similar in baseline values except that a higher heart rate was found in patients with hemorrhage (96 +/- 20 vs. 73 +/- 10 beats/min, mean +/- S.D., p less than 0.01). Thirty minutes after vasopressin infusion (0.66 units/min), hepatic venous pressure gradient significantly decreased in both bleeding and stable patients (from 21 +/- 9 to 18 +/- 9 mm Hg, p less than 0.05; and from 18 +/- 4 to 8 +/- 3 mm Hg, p less than 0.0001, respectively). However, the decrease of hepatic venous pressure gradient was less obvious in bleeding patients as compared with stable patients (4 +/- 3 vs. 9 +/- 2 mm Hg, p less than 0.0001). A significant reduction of hepatic venous pressure gradient after vasopressin infusion was found in five bleeding patients without shock (from a median of 16 mm Hg [range = 12 to 26] to 11 mm Hg [range = 6 to 18], p less than 0.05), but not in four bleeding patients with shock (from 28 [range = 15 to 36] to 25 [range = 18 to 33] mm Hg, p greater than 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Y T
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: F Y
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: S D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Hsia
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Lay
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lo
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D004932:Esophageal and Gastric Varices / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006471:Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008102:Liver Circulation / Q000187:drug effects; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014667:Vasopressins / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014690:Venous Pressure / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D014667:Vasopressins