Cardiovascular manifestation of end-stage liver disease and perioperative echocardiography for liver transplantation: anesthesiologist’s view

Liver transplantation (LT) is the curative therapy for decompensated cirrhosis. However, an-esthesiologists can find it challenging to manage patients undergoing LT due to the underlying pathologic conditions of patients with end-stage liver disease and the high invasiveness of the procedure, which is frequently accompanied by massive blood loss. Echocardiography is a non-invasive or semi-invasive imaging tool that provides real-time information about the structural and functional status of the heart and is considered to be able to improve outcomes by enabling accurate and detailed assessments. This article reviews the pathophysi-ologic changes of the heart accompanied by cirrhosis that mainly affect hemodynamics. We also present a comparative review of the diagnostic criteria for cirrhotic cardiomyopathy published by the World Congress of Gastroenterology in 2005 and the Cirrhotic Cardiomyop-athy Consortium in 2019. This article discusses the conditions that could affect hemody-namic stability and postoperative outcomes, such as coronary artery disease, left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, portopulmonary hypertension, hepatopulmonary syndrome, peri-cardial effusion, cardiac tamponade, patent foramen ovale, and ascites. Finally, we cover a number of intraoperative factors that should be considered, including intraoperative blood loss, rapid reaccumulation of ascites, manipulation of the inferior vena cava, post-reperfu-sion syndrome, and adverse effects of excessive fluid infusion and transfusion. This article aimed to summarize the cardiovascular manifestations of cirrhosis that can affect hemody-namics and can be evaluated using perioperative echocardiography. We hope that this article will provide information about the hemodynamic characteristics of LT recipients and stimulate more active use of perioperative echocardiography.