Liver Transplant Recipients Benefit from Nitric Oxide

Ivanhoe Newswire

By Lindsay Braun, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Inhaling nitric oxide (NO) may be a valuable preemptive treatment for patients receiving liver transplants.

A new study reveals patients who inhaled NO prior to and during liver transplant surgeries had restored liver function sooner than patients who did not inhale NO. Subsequently, the liver transplant patients who inhaled NO had shorter hospital recoveries.

A team of researchers led by John Lang, M.D., Chief Anesthesiologist and Medical Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, Wash., began studying NO inhalation when they made the connection between liver complications and decreased natural NO production in the liver.

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"What you can do is decrease fluid formation within the air sacks of the lung, which will help increase oxygen levels and also hopefully decrease infection," Dr. Lang told Ivanhoe.

Researchers administered the NO to the patients right after the induction of anesthesia when the patients were somewhat stable but before an incision was made. Dr. Lang explained the NO was continually given to the patients through a special machine called INOvent after the surgery was underway. "INOvent is a specialized device for delivering NO ... It's in the tube supplying the oxygen by the ventilator," Dr. Lang explained.

Dr. Lang said he believes other organ transplant patients may benefit from this research in the future. "This is the tip of the iceberg, we have to start somewhere. This is just the first step of many potential steps. However, not all organs are created equal ? but there is the potential," Dr. Lang said.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: Ivanhoe Interview with John Lang, M.D.; The Journal of Clinical Investigation, published online Aug. 23, 2007