The measurement of gastric mucosal microcirculation by using laser doppler velocimetry in patients with liver cirrhosis

Abstract

Laser doppler velocimetry was evaluated on the endoscopic measurments of gastric mucosal microcirculation of the antrum and body in 13 patients with liver cirrhosis, in which its reproducebility and comparison of correlation with hydrogen gas clearance method were examined. In 7 measurements of the antrum and body, coefficient of variation was 0.03 ± 0.01 and 0.16 ± 0.04, respectively, which represented the relative good reproducebility in those measurements. Mean microcirculation was 18±6 ml/min/100 g of the antrum and 23±8 ml/min/100 g of the body, in which a higher value was observed in the body as compared with the antrum. Mucosal microcirculation obtained by laser doppler velocimetry was obviously lower than that of hydrogen gas clearance method. However, there was no significant correlation between mucosal blood flows obtained by both methods, which might be due in part to different principles applied to both methods. But our study showed that laser doppler velocimetry still has a benefit for measurement of gastric mucosal microcirculation from an advantage of it's easy, safe, not-expensive and continous measurement. © 1989, Japan Gastroenterological Endoscopy Society. All rights reserved.