Interrelationship of oxygen supply by hepatic artery and portal vein: rapid analysis of ischemia-reflow-induced changes in hepatic oxygenation in experimental and clinical subjects by tissue near-infrared spectroscopy.

The rapid changes in extracellular oxygenation and intracellular oxidation during ischemia and reflow were measured in deep liver tissue by a novel method combining tissue near-infrared spectroscopy with multicomponent curve-fitting analysis. This method enabled us to make real-time measurements of oxygen saturation (SO2) and amount (THB) of hemoglobin in the liver sinusoid as parameters of extracellular oxygenation state and of redox transition of cytochrome aa3 as intracellular oxidation state. Clamping of the hepatic artery in rabbit decreased the THB with a transient fall of SO2. Clamping of the portal vein decreased both SO2 and THB. The decreases of SO2 and THB caused by Pringle's maneuver were larger than the sum of decreases by hepatic artery and portal vein. These changes in SO2 were correlated with intramitochondrial oxidation state as measured by cytochrome aa3. These results indicate the presence of an interrelationship of oxygen supply by hepatic artery and portal vein. This method was clinically applied during and after clamping of hepatic artery and portal vein in 19 cases of hepatic resection with or without chronic hepatic diseases. The decrease in SO2 values before and after clamping (SO2D) and the slope of SO2 recovery (SO2R) after release were calculated. SO2D and SO2R values of the portal vein in cirrhotics were significantly higher and lower, respectively, than those in the normal liver. These data indicate that the present method provides a rapid and reliable method of quantifying hepatic oxygenation during liver surgery and its perioperative management.