CHANGES IN THE OXYGEN CONTENT OF HEPATIC VENOUS BLOOD DURING EXERCISE IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATIC HEART DISEASE

Abstract

Changes in O2 saturation of hepatic venous blood were followed by frequent sampling through intravenous catheter before, during and after exercise in 14 patients with various degrees of disability due to rheumatic heart disease. The hepatic arterio-venous O2 difference increased in all patients during exercise, being greatest in the most disabled patients, in some of whom it did not regain its pre-exercise level for 20 minutes or longer after exercise had ceased. Assuming that splanchnic O2 consumption in these patients was normal and did not change on exercise, it was deduced that splanchnic blood flow was reduced on exercise to 65% of the normal resting level in the less disabled patients and to 27% of the normal resting level in the most disabled patients.