Radiology, Vol 187, 391-394, Copyright © 1993 by Radiological Society of North America
Hepatic artery: effect of a meal in healthy persons and transplant recipients
M Lafortune, M Dauzat, G Pomier-Layrargues, D Gianfelice, L Lepanto, G Breton, D Marleau, M Dagenais and R Lapointe
Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Hopital Saint-Luc, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Thirty healthy volunteers and 12 liver allograft recipients (two with
cirrhotic changes seen at microscopy) were given a standard meal. Doppler
sonography of the right and left hepatic arteries, the superior mesenteric
artery, and the portal vein was performed. The change in hepatic arterial
resistance was evaluated with the resistive index (RI). After the standard
meal, portal venous flow increased in both the healthy volunteers and
allograft recipients (more so in the latter group). Superior mesenteric
arterial RI decreased in all subjects. A postprandial increase in hepatic
arterial RI, likely reflecting constriction of the hepatic artery, was seen
in both groups. It was absent in the two patients with recurrent transplant
cirrhosis. These results show the importance of examining hepatic arterial
flow in the fasting subject, since high resistance after a meal may be
falsely interpreted as a sign of disease. Absence of a postprandial change
in resistance of the hepatic artery could signal abnormal liver function.
