RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: The study of the disturbances of arterial gases and the changes in the arterial pH which are present in patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites and their modification after the disappearance of ascites by treatment. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Open study,with protocol and prospective, to evaluate the changes in measurement of the arterial gases and acid-base, parameters in matching groups of patients. PATIENTS: We include 24 patients, 15 males and 9 females, without preliminary or cardio-respiratory pathology age range between 37 and 77 years, average of 56.8 years, all of them diagnosed of liver cirrhosis of different etiologies and with important ascites. All of them finished the study. RESULTS: In patients with liver cirrhosis and ascites a fall in the PaO2 and in the PaCO2 was demonstrated the pH in the upper limit of the normality compatible with hypoxemia and respiratory alkalosis. After the disappearance of the ascites, a significant improvement in the PaO2 (p < 0.05), without any changes in the PaCO2 and pH values was apparent. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with liver cirrhosis, with or without ascites, hyperventilation is present, that can be multifactorial in origin, but which really has an unknown cause. We have found no relationship with the circulating levels of progesterone.