Multidisciplinary Conferences in Gastroenterology. Cardiovascular effects of severe liver disease

This is the definitive review of the cardiovascular effects of liver disease. Physiologic and pathologic studies accomplished primarily in the 1950s and 1960s have been applied to a case of a 16-year-old boy with cirrhosis of the liver who presented with weakness, dyspnea, cyanosis, and clubbing. The probable mechanisms for his signs and symptoms are discussed in detail. The cause for the hyperkinetic circulation is unknown. By exclusion, the cyanosis is attributed to intrapulmonary shunting. Portapulmonary shunts are not quantitatively important. The suitability of the terms micronodular and macronodular cirrhosis is highlighted. Indications for various types of surgical portal shunts are discussed. The value of preoperative hemodynamic measurements of the portal circulation to the individual patient is debated. A liver transplant is considered in this case with no promising medical therapy and a very poor prognosis. The renal disease manifested by red cell casts in the urine is thought to be caused by an immunologic reaction in the kidney somehow related to his liver disease. This discussion is led by Dr. Jack Myers, but his opinions are correlated with those of a pathologist, radiologist, surgeon, and gastroenterologist. It is a clinical tour de force, although not all the predictions are confirmed by laboratory studies such as this patient's hepatic wedge pressure, pulmonary artery pressure, and cardiac fluoroscopy.