Correlations of plasma levels of ET-1 and CGRP with ascites and liver function in cirrhosis patients with portal hypertension

Abstract:

Objective：To analyze the correlations of plasma levels of endothelin-1（ET-1）and calcitonin gene-related pepfide（CGRP） with ascites and liver function in cirrhosis patients with portal hypertension. Methods：Seventy eight cirrhosis patients with portal hy－pertension were enrolled in this study and the plasma levels of ET-1 and CGRP in the peripheral venous blood and portal venous blood of all patients were detected. Among the 78 patients，42 with ascites and 36 without ascites. Based on child-pugh classification，35 cases were in class A，26 cases were in class B and 17 cases were in class C. Results：There were significant differences in ve－nous blood ET-1 levels between portal hypertension patients without ascites and the control patients（P<0.05）. Significant differences in venous blood ET-1 levels between patients with ascites and patients without ascites were observed（P<0.05）. In patients with ascites，there were significant differences in ET-1 levels between portal vein blood and peripheral venous blood（P<0.05）. Significant differ－ences in venous blood levels of CGRP between patients with ascites and patients without ascites were observed（P<0.05）. There were statistical differences in levels of ET-1 and CGRP in the peripheral venous blood and portal venous blood between class A patients and class B patients（P<0.05）. There were statistical differences between levels of EF-1 in portal venous blood and levels of ET-1 in peripheral venous blood in class C patients（P<0.05）. There were statistical differences between levels of CGRP in peripheral ve－nous blood and levels of CGRP in portal venous blood in class C patients（P<0.05）. Furthermore，the liver function was negatively cor－related with level of ET-1 and CGRP in the peripheral venous blood and portal venous blood（rs=-0.783，P<0.05；rs=-0.695，P<0.05）（rs=-0.642，P<0.05，rs=-0.671，P<0.05）. Conclusions：The high level of venous blood ET-1 and CGRP is correlated with as－cites formation in cirrhosis patients with portal hypertension. Moreover，the liver function is also correlated with venous blood levels of ET-1 and CGRP，which indicates that venous blood levels of ET-1 and CGRP might be potent hypertensive indica－tors of liver function in cirrhosis patients.