The Relationship between Serum Nitric Oxide and Hypoxemia of Liver Cirrhosis

Purpose To explore the relationship between serum NO and hypoxemia in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods NO was measured in serum samples collected from 69 patients with liver cirrhosis and 20 healthy controls by colorometric assay. Results Higher serum level of NO were observed in patients with cirrhosis than that in normal controls(p0.01). Higher serum level of NO in cirrhosis patients with hypoxemia than that in cirrhosis patients without hypoxemia (p0.001). The increases of serum NO were inverse proportional to PaO_2(r=-0.99). The levels of serum NO were increased in accordance with the seventy of liver cirrhosis from Child-Pugh A→B→C (p0.05). PaO_2 decrased with the seventy of liver cirrhosis from child pugh A→B→C(p0.01). Conclusions The increase of serum NO may contribute to cirrhosis hypoxemia.