Distribution of body water in patients with cirrhosis: the effect of liver transplantation.
We compared total body water and intracellular-extracellular distribution of body water between male patients with mild liver disease without ascites (n = 9), male patients with severe liver disease and gross ascites (n = 6) and a group of age-, sex-, height- and weight- matched controls (n = 6). In addition, we documented the effects of liver transplantation on intracellular, extracellular and total body water in 12 patients (6 men and 6 women) by means of deuterium oxide dilution and whole-body potassium counting. We saw no significant difference in total body water between the healthy controls, patients without ascites and patients with ascites (46.5 +/- 9.2 kg, 45.4 +/- 6.6 kg and 50.4 +/- 5.1 kg, respectively), although, as expected, extracellular water was increased in patients with ascites compared with healthy controls and cirrhotic patients without ascites (36.9 +/- 6.5 kg vs. 25.4 +/- 4.4 kg, p = 0.005; and 36.9 +/- 6.5 kg vs. 27.0 +/- 5.3 kg, p = 0.002, respectively). We found no difference between non-ascitic patients and healthy controls (25.4 +/- 4.4 kg vs. 27.0 +/- 5.3 kg). However, intracellular water was significantly reduced in patients with severe liver disease compared with that in controls (13.6 +/- 3.3 kg vs. 21.5 +/- 4.2 kg, p = 0.005) or patients without ascites (13.6 +/- 3.3 kg vs. 18.3 +/- 2.9 kg, p = 0.01). The reduction of intracellular water appears to be due to loss of body cell mass.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Joint Liver Program, University of Queensland, Royal Brisbane Hospital, Australia.
D H
DH
Crawford
J W
JW
Halliday
W G
WG
Cooksley
T L
TL
Murphy
S D
SD
Golding
J D
JD
Wallace
R C
RC
Cuneo
S V
SV
Lynch
R J
RJ
Strong
L W
LW
Powell
D000328:Adult; D001201:Ascites / Q000378:metabolism; D001834:Body Water / Q000378:metabolism*; D001835:Body Weight; D005110:Extracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007424:Intracellular Fluid / Q000378:metabolism; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000601:surgery; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011517:Prothrombin Time; D012709:Serum Albumin / Q000378:metabolism
D012709:Serum Albumin