Table 2.
Circulatory changes in specific vascular beds in cirrhosis
| Systemic circulation |
| Plasma volume ↑ |
| Total blood volume ↑ |
| Non-central blood volume ↑ |
| Central and arterial blood volume ↓ (→) |
| Cardiac output ↑ |
| Arterial blood pressure ↓ (→) |
| Heart rate ↑ |
| Systemic vascular resistance ↓ |
| Arterial and total vascular compliance ↑ |
| Heart |
| Left atrial volume ↑ |
| Left ventricular volume → (↑) |
| Right atrial volume → ↑ ↓ |
| Right ventricular volume → ↑ ↓ |
| Right atrial pressure → ↑ |
| Right ventricular end diastolic pressure → |
| Pulmonary artery pressure → ↑ |
| Left ventricular end diastolic pressure → |
| Hepatic and splanchnic circulation |
| Hepatic blood flow ↓ → (↑) |
| Hepatic venous pressure gradient ↑ |
| Postsinusoidal resistance ↑ |
| Renal circulation |
| Renal blood flow ↓ |
| Glomerular filtration rate ↓ → |
| Pulmonary circulation |
| Pulmonary blood flow ↑ |
| Pulmonary vascular resistance ↓ (↑)1 |
| Cutaneous and skeletal muscle circulation |
| Skeletal muscular blood flow ↑ → ↓ |
| Cutaneous blood flow ↑ → ↓ |
1
Portopulmonary syndrome. ↑ → ↓ denote: Increased, unchanged, or decreased, respectively. Parenthesis denotes less frequent changes.