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Noninvasive kinetic approach to the estimation of total hepatic blood flow and shunting in chronic liver disease—a hypothesis
Author(s) -
McLean Allan,
Souich Patrick,
Gibaldi Milo
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1002/cpt1979252161
Subject(s) - shunting , medicine , blood flow , liver disease , chronic liver disease , disease , liver circulation , cardiology , cirrhosis
The intact hepatocyte theory of chronic liver disease suggests a relationship between the degree of shunting of total liver blood flow around the functional liver cell mass and the fraction of functional liver cell mass. By defining this relationship we have developed pharmacokinetic equations to permit the estimation of both total hepatic blood flow and the extent to which this blood flow is shunted. The method requires the determination of the systemic (hepatic) clearances of a high (e.g., indocyanine green [JCG]) and a low (e.g., antipyrine [AP]) extraction ratio drug in the same patient. Applying these equations to literature data obtained from patients with moderate or severe chronic liver disease and from patients with a surgical portacaval shunt, we find.: (1) a modest decrease in total hepatic blood flow (16%) and a significant degree of shunting (27%) in patients with moderate chronic liver disease; (2) a substantially reduced total hepatic blood (52%) and extensive shunting (72%) in patients with severe chronic liver disease, and (3) a degree of shunting comparable to that estimated in patients with moderate chronic liver disease but a seriously compromised total hepatic blood flow (a reduction of 55% compared to normal) in patients with surgical portacaval shunts.