Portacaval shunting attenuates portal hypertension and systemic hypotension in rat anaphylactic shock.

Anaphylactic shock in rats is characterized by antigen-induced hepatic venoconstriction and the resultant portal hypertension. We determined the role of portal hypertension in anaphylactic hypotension by using the side-to-side portacaval shunt- and sham-operated rats sensitized with ovalbumin (1 mg). We measured the mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), portal venous pressure (PVP), and central venous pressure (CVP) under pentobarbital anesthesia and spontaneous breathing.

Small multicentric pancreatic carcinoma usefully diagnosed by positron emission tomography.

Pancreatic carcinoma has a poor prognosis, and early detection is essential for potentially curative resection. Despite a wide array of diagnostic tools, pre-operative detection of small pancreatic carcinomas is difficult. We report a case of pancreatic carcinoma that was bicentric and small.

Psoas abscess and bacterial peritonitis caused by urinary tract infection in a patient of liver cirrhosis and diabetes mellitus.

Prognosis of patients with diabetes mellitus or liver cirrhosis can be worsened by the development of a variety of infectious diseases. We describe a case of psoas abscess and bacterial peritonitis in a 58-year-old woman with type C liver cirrhosis and diabetes mellitus hospitalized after having an elevated temperature caused by urinary tract infection for 2 months. The cirrhosis had not been treated and daily self-administration of insulin had been discontinued for the previous 5 months.

Increased sinusoidal resistance is responsible for the basal state and endothelin-induced venoconstriction in perfused cirrhotic rat liver.

The localization of increased intrahepatic vascular resistance and the segmental vascular responsiveness to endothelin-1 are not well known in liver cirrhosis. We determined the segmental vascular resistances and their response to endothelin-1 of isolated portally perfused bile duct ligation (BDL)-induced cirrhotic rat livers. The portal occlusion pressure (Ppo) and the hepatic venous occlusion pressure (Phvo) were obtained by analyzing the profiles of the portal (Ppv) and hepatic venous (Phv) pressures during the double occlusion maneuver of simultaneous occlusions of the inflow and outflow perfusion lines.

Gas embolism caused by portal vein gas: case report and literature review.

Introduction: We describe a case of pulmonary gas embolism caused by portal vein gas (PVG) observed using echocardiography. Echography revealed gas flowing through the hepatic vein, inferior vena cava, right atrium, and right ventricle, as well as pulmonary hypertension. The patient was diagnosed as having pulmonary gas embolism caused by PVG.

[A case of effective multidisciplinary treatment with hepatic resection for synchronous multiple liver metastases from rectal cancer].

A 56-year-old-man complained of abdominal pain, and was diagnosed as having advanced rectal cancer with synchronous multiple metastatic liver cancer (H 3) in July 1999. He underwent low anterior resection and hepatic partial resection (S 1, S 2+S 3, S 5, S 6, S 8) in August 1999. In addition, he underwent hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy (HAI) 6 times at ADM 30 mg+5-FU 1,000 mg+MMC 16 mg between October 1999 and July 2000 for recurrent metastatic liver cancer.

Effects of Hct and norepinephrine on segmental vascular resistance distribution in isolated perfused rat livers.

We studied the effects of blood hematocrit (Hct), blood flow, or norepinephrine on segmental vascular resistances in isolated portally perfused rat livers. Total portal hepatic venous resistance (Rt) was assigned to the portal (Rpv), sinusoidal (Rsinus), and hepatic venous (Rhv) resistances using the portal occlusion (Ppo) and the hepatic venous occlusion (Phvo) pressures that were obtained during occlusion of the respective line. Four levels of Hct (30%, 20%, 10%, and 0%) were studied.