Application of volumetric pulmonary artery catheters in liver transplantation

Objectives To evaluate the application of volumetric pulmonary artery catheters in liver transplantation. Methods Twenty patients suffered from end phase hepatopathy and they were scheduled for liver transplantation under general anesthesia, volumetric pulmonary artery catheters were placed through right internal jugular vein, the hemodynamic data, including heart rate(HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP),central venous pressure (CVP), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), cardiac index (CI), stroke volune index (SVI), systemic vascular resistance index (SVRI), pulmonary vascular resistance index (PVRI), right ventricular end-diastolic volume index (RVEDVI), were recorded at five measurement points of after anesthesia, anhepatic phase 15 min, anhepatic phase 30 min, reperfusion phase, before end of the surgery. Results Compared with postanesthesia value, MAP was decreased in anhepatic phase (P0.05), PCWP,CVP, RVEDVI, CI and SvO2 were apparently decreased in anhepatic phase(P0.01). RVEDVI was apparently correlated with CI at all time points(P0.01), PCWP was apparently correlated with CI in anhepatic phase(P0.01),CVP was apparently correlated with CI in reperfusion phase (P0.01). Conclusions In liver transplantation, volumetric pulmonary artery catheters can provide overall hemodynamic data which assists in evaluation of circulation functions and guides drug and volume treatment.