ABSTRACT
Objective To assess the effect of continuous low-dose infusion of adenosine on hepatic arterial flow (HAF) of patients with liver graft during surgery.Methods From Jan 2009 to Aug 2009,44 patients underwent orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT).10 patients were enrolled to receive adenosine treatment and 34 patients served as controls.Following arterial reperfusion,a 16G central venous catheter was placed into the gastroduodenal artery and adenosine was continuously infused at doses ranging from 0.7 to 4.2 μg · kg-1 · min-1 for 30 min.HAF and portal vein flow (PVF) were measured using a real-time time flow meter prior to,during and 10 min after adenosine infusion.Data on gender,age,postoperative hospital stay,ICU stay,hepatic biochemical indicators and 1-year survival rate were compared between the two groups.Results Adenosine significantly increased HAF at doses from 1.4 to 2.8 μg · kg-1 · min-1 Doses ＞2.8 μg · kg-1 · min-1 did not further increase HAF.HAF increased by 150.3％ ± 161.2％ (P ＜0.05) while PVF showed no significant changes (P ＞ 0.05) during adenosine infusion.No significant differences were found on MAP [(85.6 ± 13.0) vs 84.0 ± 13.6,P ＞0.05] and HR [(74.5 ± 10.0) vs (74.1 ± 9.6),P ＞ 0.05] before and after adenosine infusion.In addition,there were no significant differences between the adenosine group and the control group on patients' gender,age,postoperative hospital stay,ICU stay,hepatic biochemical indicators and 1-year survival rate.Conclusion This pilot study concluded that adenosine administration directly into the HA significantly increased HAF of liver grafts without systemic side effects.