Why the study?
Whether right ventricular function is impaired during liver transplantation remains controversial, and transesophageal echocardiography studies providing quantitative analysis remain scarce with conflicting results.
Is right ventricular function impaired during liver transplantation when assessed by transesophageal echocardiography?
Is right ventricular function impaired during liver transplantation when assessed by transesophageal echocardiography?
Right ventricular function, as assessed by TEE parameters TAPSE and fractional area change, remains preserved during liver transplantation in patients without pre-existing cardiopulmonary disease.
RV function appears preserved on quantitative TEE during liver transplant; leaves open need for larger prospective studies before changing monitoring practice.
BACKGROUND: The pathophysiology of advanced liver cirrhosis may induce alterations in the circulatory system that may be challenging for the anesthesiologist to manage intraoperatively, and perioperative cardiovascular events are associated with worse outcomes in cirrhotic patients undergoing liver transplantation. It remains controversial whether right ventricular function is impaired during this procedure. Studies using transesophageal echocardiography for quantitative analysis of the right ventricle remain scarce in this setting, yielding conflicting results. The aim of this study was to perform a quantitative assessment of right ventricular function with two parameters derived from transesophageal echocardiography during liver transplantation. METHODS: Nineteen adult patients of both genders undergoing liver transplantation were evaluated in this observational study. The exclusion criteria were age under 18 or above 65 years old, fulminant hepatic failure, hepatopulmonary syndrome, portopulmonary hypertension, cardiopulmonary disease, and contraindications to the transesophageal echocardiogram. Right ventricular function was assessed at five stages during liver transplantation: baseline, hepatectomy, anhepatic, postreperfusion, and closure by measuring tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion and right ventricular fractional area change obtained with transesophageal echocardiography. RESULTS: Right ventricular function was found to be normal throughout the procedure. The tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion showed a trend toward a decrease in the anhepatic phase compared to baseline (2.0 ± 0.9 cm vs. 2.4 ± 0.7 cm; P = 0.24) but with full recovery after reperfusion. Right ventricular fractional area change remained nearly constant during all stages studied (minimum: 50% ± 10 at baseline and anhepatic phase; maximum: 56% ± 12 at postreperfusion; P = 0.24). CONCLUSIONS: Right ventricular function was preserved during liver transplantation at the time points evaluated by two quantitative parameters derived from transesophageal echocardiogram.
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Gouvêa et al. (2022) studied this question.
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