The effect of low dose dopamine on gut hemodynamics during PEEP ventilation for acute lung injury

Mechanical ventilation with positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) diminishes gut and hepatic blood flow and redistributes cardiac output away from the splanchnic circulation. This flow-limited environment can aggravate underlying hypoperfusion and ischemia in the postinjury setting. To examine the effects of low dose dopamine on a lung injury PEEP model of gut hypoperfusion, six anesthetized, splenectomized canines were instrumented with arterial, pulmonary artery, portal vein, and hepatic vein catheters. Electromagnetic flow probes were placed around the hepatic artery and portal vein for continuous flow measurements. Gut and hepatic blood flow, oxygen delivery, oxygen consumption, and extraction ratio were calculated at four time points: baseline, 1 hr after lung injury with oleic acid, 1 hr after ventilation with 10 cm H2O PEEP, and 1 hr after the continuous infusion of dopamine. Portal flow and gut oxygen delivery fell significantly with the infusion of PEEP. These values returned to near baseline levels with the addition of dopamine. Gut oxygen extraction increased from 16 +/- 2% to 35 +/- 3% with PEEP but returned to near baseline with dopamine (20 +/- 4%, P less than 0.01 compared to PEEP). We conclude that dopamine improves blood flow and oxygen delivery to the gut in this flow-limited model. This may preserve splanchnic physiology during PEEP ventilation for acute lung injury.