The Prevalence of Hypoxemia and Abnormal Ventilatory Functions in Cirrhotic Patients With and Without Ascites
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- Category: Vol. 78, June 2010
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The Prevalence of Hypoxemia and Abnormal Ventilatory Functions in Cirrhotic Patients With and Without Ascites,TAHER H. AL-ZANATY, MONA A. HEGAZY, SAMAR H. ABOULSOUD, HATEM M. EL-KHABERY and SAMY O. MOHAMAD
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the frequency of hypoxemia and impairment of pulmonary function tests in patients with liver cirrhosis, and to examine the relationships of these impairments with the presence, absence and grade of ascites in cirrhotic.
Methods: A comparative study that included 100 patients with liver cirrhosis divided into two groups according to presence or absence of ascites. Patients with ascites were further classified according to grade into mild, moderate and massive ascites.
Results: Hypoxia was evident in thirty patients of both groups (30%). Restrictive ventilatory function was the com-monest pattern in patients with liver cirrhosis with or without ascites, 46% of patients had restrictive ventilation and 3% obstructive ventilatory function. Forced Vital Capacity (FVC), Forced Expiratory Volume in 1st second (FEV1) and Forced Expiratory Flow (FEF 25-75%) were decreased in patients with ascites when compared to patients without ascites. Moreover, these parameters further decreased with advanced grades of ascites. There was a trend of higher incidence of restrictive ventilatory function with higher grades of ascites (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Hypoxia is more common in cirrhotic patients with ascites when compared to those without ascites. Moreover, the degree of hypoxia correlates positively with the grade of ascites. Restrictive pattern was the commonest observed abnormality in patients with liver cirrhosis with or without