Primary prophylaxis with nadolol in cirrhotic patients: Doppler patterns of splanchnic hemodynamics in good and poor responders

Background/Aims: We aimed to characterize by echo-color-Doppler the splanchnic hemodynamics of patients good and poor responders to primary prophylaxis with nadolol. Methods: Thirty cirrhotic patients (Child-score 7.0 +/- 1.8) with medium/large esophageal varices without previous bleedings were consecutively enrolled. At inclusion and after 3 months of treatment with nadolol, they underwent a splanchnic echo-color-Doppler study and a measurement of hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG). Results: Nadolol (60 +/- 36 mg/day; range 20-160) induced a significant reduction of HVPG (16.6 +/- 6.1 vs. 19.4 +/- 4.6 mmHg, P < 0.0001). 13 patients (43.3%) were hemodynamic responders. Responders and Poor-responders had similar baseline clinical characteristics. Poor-responders at baseline were characterized by lower impedance indexes in superior mesenteric artery (SMA) (PI 2.29 +/- 0.45 vs. 2.74 +/- 0.46; P = 0.01; RI 0.83 +/- 0.04 vs. 0.86 +/- 0.03; P = 0.02), hepatic artery (HA) (PI 1.41 +/- 0.19 vs. 1.79 +/- 0.48; P = 0.03; RI 0.71 +/- 0.05 vs. 0.80 +/- 0.07; P = 0.02), and splenic artery (SA) (PI 1.18 +/- 0.27 vs. 1.73 +/- 0.40; P = 0.01; RI 0.66 +/- 0.07 vs. 0.73 +/- 0.09; P = 0.02), and by higher mean flow velocity of HA (52.6 +/- 21.6 vs. 26.5 +/- 9.5 cm/s; P = 0.02) and SMA (49.7 +/- 14.5 vs. 33.9 +/- 13.1 cm/s; P = 0.06). Conclusions: Cirrhotic patients poor-responders to nadolol show a pronounced arterial splanchnic vasodilatation at a baseline echo-color-Doppler study. This can be considered a non-invasive clue for the a priori identification of this subgroup of patients. (C) 2005 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.