A 44-Year-Old Woman With Sudden Breathlessness, Tightness in Chest, and Hypotension After Extubation in the Early Postoperative Period After Liver Transplantation.

Abstract

A 44-year-old woman with Child-Pugh class C cirrhosis due to primary biliary cirrhosis and mild portopulmonary syndrome received a liver transplant. Her basal catheterization showed a mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) of 28 mm Hg, pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP) of 8 mm Hg, pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) of 307 dynes.s.cm^-5, and a cardiac output of 5.2 L/min. The echocardiogram did not reveal right ventricular dilatation (mid-diameter of 34 mm). In surgery, hemodynamic assessment showed an mPAP of 25 mm Hg, PAOP of 6 mm Hg, PVR of 262 dynes.s.cm^-5 and cardiac output of 5.8 L/min. During the anhepatic period, the patient required norepinephrine (0.4 μg/kg/min) but had no complications during reperfusion; throughout surgery, her mPAP was never > 30 mm Hg. At the end of surgery, the brain natriuretic peptide level was 66 pg/mL (< 100 pg/mL). One day following transplantation, the patient remained hemodynamically stable and was therefore weaned from mechanical ventilation. However, 6 h following extubation, she reported breathlessness and tightness in chest, and developed sudden arterial hypotension, oxygen desaturation, and oliguria.