OBJECTIVE: A marked impact on the splanchnic circulation is seen in liver cirrhosis. Doppler ultrasonography (DUS) was performed in a group of patients with end-stage liver cirrhosis before, during and after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in order to investigate the hemodynamic changes in portal vein flow velocity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-four patients submitted to OLT and intraoperative DUS were prospectively studied from January 2002 to July 2003. Seventeen patients were excluded because of missing data due to either technical difficulties to obtain the measurements or early patient death. All 37 patients included in the analysis had liver cirrhosis mainly associated with hepatitis C virus infection and alcoholic disease. Patients were submitted to DUS just before OLT, intraoperatively after graft reperfusion, and in the postoperative period (1st and 7th postoperative days). Mean flow velocity was measured at main, right and left portal veins. Statistical analysis was performed using paired t test. Differences were significant when p < 0.05. RESULTS: The mean pre-OLT velocity in the portal vein was 16.0 cm/s. Intraoperative measurements obtained few minutes after graft reperfusion showed an increase in portal vein velocity to 84.09 cm/s. Portal flow velocity was 71.0 cm/s and 58.5 cm/s in the 1st and 7th postoperative days, respectively. Intraoperative and postoperative mean flow velocity in the portal vein was significantly higher than in pre-OLT period (p < 0.001). On the 7th postoperative day, the mean flow velocity in the portal vein decreased significantly compared to intraoperative values (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In liver transplantation, there is a significantly increase in mean flow velocity in the portal vein immediately after graft reperfusion when compared to pre-OLT data. Likewise, after this initial peak flow there is a significant and progressive decrease in mean flow velocity in the portal vein, which tends to normalize on the 7th postoperative day.

Keywords: Portal vein, Mean velocity, Transplantation, Hemodynamics