Contributing Factors And Significance For High Resistive Index On Doppler Sonography Of The Hepatic Artery Immediately After Liver Transplantation

Objective:To investigate the contributing factors and significance for high resistance flow at the hepatic artery detected on Doppler sonography during the period immediately after orthotopic liver transplantation.Methods:83 patients were examined on Doppler sonography consecutively after liver transplantation.According to resistive index(RI)of the hepatic artery,83 patient were divided into the normal RI group and the high RI group.Several variables from transplant recipients,surgical procedures and complications after surgery were investigated.Results:18(22%)of the 83 patients showed a high resistive index at the hepatic artery during the first 72h after transplantation.An older recipient age and extended preservation time showed a statistically significant effect on the occurrence of a high resistive index at the hepatic artery immediately after transplantation(P＜0.05),other factors including gender of the recipients,and surgical procedures showed no statistically significant between patients with high-resisistance flow and those with normal flow.The incidence of bile duct complications,vascular complications and acute allograft rejection was no higher at the follow-up in patients with high-resistance flow than in those with normal flow.Conclusion:High-resistance flow at the hepatic artery detected on Doppler sonography during the period immediately after transplantation is a frequent finding and is related to older recipient age and prolonged period of ischemia.This finding has no prognosis implication for early complications after surgery.