THE ESTIMATION OF HEPATIC BLOOD FLOW IN MAN

Abstract

The hepatic blood flow in man has been estimated by the following procedure (a) The peripheral serum concn. of bromsulphalein (BSP) was maintained at an unchanging level by means of a constant intraven. infusion of the dye. Under these conditions, the rate of BSP infusion (controlled by a clamp manufactured by the Harvard Instrument Company, Dover, Mass was assumed to equal the rate of BSP removal by the liver. (b) The concn. of BSP in the peripheral blood, detd. colorimetrically, was assumed to be equivalent to the BSP concn. in the blood entering the hepatic circulation. Removal of BSP by organs in the portal circuit does not invalidate this assumption. (c) The concn. of BSP was detd. similarly in hepatic venous blood obtained from a right hepatic vein by a modification of the venous catheterization technique, using an extra length catheter (100 cm.) with a "Cournand Tip" manufactured by the U. S. Catheter and Instrument Company, Glen Falls, N. Y. (d) The calculated hepatic BSP removal rate (mg./ min.) divided by the difference between the BSP concn. in peripheral and hepatic venous blood (mg./ml., corrected for the hematocrit, yield a value approximating the vol. of hepatic blood flow. Since BSP was not detd. in total mixed hepatic venous blood, this value was designated "estimated hepatic blood flow" (EHBF). In 23 human subjects without obvious hepatic disease, the EHBF varied from 1,085-1,845 ml./ min./1.73 M2 of body surface, with an avg. of 1,497 ml. No evidence of irregular shunting or gross alternation of blood flow in the human liver was obtained.