Improvement of pulmonary hypertension after liver transplantation

Pulmonary hypertension at the end stage of chronic liver disease is not an uncommon situation. This association termed portopulmonary hypertension rai ses the question of the feasibility of performing orthotopic liver transpla ntation (OLT), In the case reported herein, there was a favorable outcome a fter OLT, even though the mean pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP) before tran splantation was increased to 45 mm Hg. Before OLT, the cardiac index (CI) w as considerably elevated (7.69 L/min/m(2)), giving evidence of a marked hyp erdynamic circulatory state, The CI decreased significantly after OLT (3.38 L/min/m(2)), and this produced a significant decrease in the MPAP. Our obs ervation suggests that portopulmonary hypertension due to a marked increase in the CI can be managed successfully by OLT.