1. Patterns of regional sympathetic nerve traffic in preascitic and ascitic cirrhosis
- Author
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Laura Ratti, Giuseppe Mancia, Raffaella Dell'Oro, Gerardo Foglia, Alessandro Di Lelio, Elena Redaelli, Alessandro Redaelli, Massimo Pozzi, Guido Grassi, Pozzi, M, Grassi, G, Redaelli, E, Dell'Oro, R, Ratti, L, Redaelli, A, Foglia, G, Di Lelio, A, and Mancia, G
- Subjects
Liver Cirrhosis ,Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Sympathetic nervous system ,Sympathetic Nervous System ,Cirrhosis ,Portal venous pressure ,Norepinephrine ,Reference Values ,Internal medicine ,Hypertension, Portal ,Ascites ,medicine ,Humans ,Muscle, Skeletal ,Aged ,Skin ,Heart Failure ,Neurotransmitter Agents ,Hepatology ,Ascites and Cirrhosi ,business.industry ,Microneurography ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Endocrinology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Heart failure ,Hypertension ,Cardiology ,Portal hypertension ,Female ,MED/09 - MEDICINA INTERNA ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Liver disease ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system and portal hypertension are key factors in the development of ascites in cirrhosis. The sympathoexcitation that characterizes the more advanced stages of liver diseases is less clearly defined in preascitic cirrhosis. We measured sympathetic nerve traffic to skeletal muscle (peroneal nerve) and to skin districts by microneurography in (1) 12 Child class A cirrhotic patients with clinically significant portal hypertension (portal pressure gradient > 10 mm Hg, 14.8 +/- 1.2 mm Hg, mean +/- SEM) but without actual or previous ascites, (2) 16 Child class C cirrhotic patients with tense ascites, and (3) 10 patients with mild congestive heart failure, a condition paradigmatic of a marked sympathetic activation. Muscle sympathetic nerve traffic was markedly increased in Child class C subjects as compared with controls (23.9 +/- 1.6 bursts/min, P
- Published
- 2001
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