Liver blood flow in chronic hemodialysis patients

The purpose of this study was to assess liver blood flow and cardiac output in chronic hemodialysis patients (n = 7) before and after a hemodialysis session, and to compare it to normal volunteers (n = 11). We used the hepatic clearance of sorbitol to calculate liver blood flow and echocardiograms to evaluate cardiac output. The latter was higher in hemodialysis patients (predialysis 4.7 +/- 1.8 liters/min, postdialysis 4.5 +/- 0.9 liters/min) compared to normal subjects (3.8 +/- 0.9 liters/min, p = 0.09 and p = 0.05). Hepatic blood clearance of sorbitol was similar in hemodialysis patients before and after dialysis (1,610 +/- 266 and 1,541 +/- 415 ml/min) as well as in normal volunteers (1,565 +/- 313 ml/min). The hepatic extraction ratio of sorbitol is slightly decreased in hemodialysis patients (n = 3) (0.87 +/- 0.03) compared to values reported in the literature for healthy subjects. We conclude that liver blood flow is not significantly altered in hemodialysis patients.