title: Hepatic artery resistance index at doppler ultrasonography is a useful parameter of hepatic graft-vs-host disease after allogeneic stem cell transplantation.
abstract: The hepatic artery resistance index (HARI) reflects portal venous blood pressure and resistance in several diseases of the liver. This study investigated whether preconditioning HARI values would predict hepatic complications such as hepatic graft-vs-host disease (GvHD), veno-occlusive disease, and drug- and sepsis-related hepatotoxicity after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). Fifty-nine patients who underwent allogeneic SCT were studied to determine whether pre-SCT HARI would predict post-SCT hepatic complications. Twenty-six patients (44.1%) had high HARI values (≥0.74) before allogeneic SCT. At univariate analysis, a high HARI value correlated with incidence of hepatic GvHD. Multivariate analysis revealed that a nonmyeloablative regimen (P = .009; hazard ratio [HR], 4.05), infused CD34-positive cell dosage (P = .01; HR, 3.32), and high HARI (P = .02; HR, 2.82) were independent predictors. However, a high HARI did not correlate with nonrelapsed mortality and overall survival. In conclusion, it seems that a high HARI before SCT might be an important predictor of significant hepatic GvHD in patients after allogeneic SCT.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology-Oncology, Busan Cancer Center, Pusan National University Hospital Medical Research Institute, Busan, Korea.
authors.forename: M-K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: J-S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Y-M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Seol
authors.forename: S-G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: H-J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Y-J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: G-J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D006499:Hepatic Artery / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007723:Korea; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011300:Preoperative Care; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000401:mortality; D013997:Time Factors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler; D014655:Vascular Resistance; D055815:Young Adult