Description

Hepatopulmonary (hep-uh-toe-swimming POOL-moe-nar-e) syndrome is caused by blood vessels in the lungs expand, also called dilatation and increasing in number. This condition affects the lungs of people who have advanced liver disease.

These changes in the lungs making it difficult for the red blood cells to take in oxygen. Then, the lungs can't send enough oxygen to the body. This leads to low oxygen levels in the blood, also known as hypoxemia.

How the liver disease is linked to the condition of the lungs is not known yet. A liver transplant is the only cure for the hepatopulmonary syndrome.

Symptoms

Often there are no symptoms of hepatopulmonary syndrome. If there are symptoms, these can include:

  • The shortness of breath that is worse when sitting or standing and it gets better when lying down.
  • The disco of the fingers of the hands, in which the tips of the fingers out and become more round than usual.
  • Broken blood vessels under the skin, called a spider angioma.
  • Bluish discoloration of the lips and the skin of the white people. In the Black and latino, the lips or the tongue can look in the light grey. This color change is called cyanosis.

Causes

Hepatopulmonary syndrome occurs when the blood vessels in and around the lungs expand, also called dilate. This affects the amount of oxygen moves from the lungs into the bloodstream.

What causes this is not clear. And it is not known why some people with liver disease develop hepatopulmonary syndrome, while others do not.

Diagnosis

These tests can help identify if you have hepatopulmonary syndrome:

  • Arterial blood Gases. For this test, blood is taken from an artery to measure the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide and the pH balance.
  • Images of the chest. The X-ray, CT scan or echocardiogram images with a salt solution through a vein, it is called a saline contrast study, can help to rule out other heart problems, or lung.
  • Pulse oximetry. In pulse oximetry, a sensor attached to a finger or an ear that uses the light to see the amount of oxygen in the blood.

Treatment

To be given oxygen, called supplemental oxygen therapy, the main treatment is the difficulty in breathing caused by low oxygen levels in the blood. A liver transplant is the only cure for the hepatopulmonary syndrome.

Symptoms and treatment of Hepatopulmonary syndrome