Significances on Postoperative Human Hepatocyte Growth Factor as an Indicator of the Early Surgical Prognosis after Hepatectomy -Clinical and Experimental Study-

Shinji Osada, Shigetoyo Saji, Satomi Uno, Motohisa Katoh, Yasuyuki Sugiyama, Hiroshi Takao, Takao Umemoto, Kiichi Miya, Shuuji Azuma, Tomohiko Furuta

Second Department of Surgery, Gifu University School of Medicine

In a clinical investigation of early postoperative prognosis following hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma with liver cirrhosis, human hepatocyte growth factor (hHGF) was measured during the past 21 months. The preoperative hHGF value was significantly correlated with the values of the conventional liver function test, and it was evaluated as an indicator of early postoperative prognosis after hepatectomy (p=0.0001). The postoperative pattern of the hHGF level was correlated with intraoperative stress degree (ISD) as evaluated by arterial ketone body ratio (AKBR) and postoperative clinical course. In an experimental study to examine the correlation between postoperative clinical course and the pattern of hHGF, hHGF was added to normal cultured hepatocytes or ones damaged by CCl₄ or chemical hypoxia. It was found that the normal Ca²⁺ response induced by hHGF was suppressed depending on the dosis of CCl₄ or duration of hypoxia. Moreover, elevations of GOT, GPT and LDH in the supernatant were more significant after the stimulation of hHGF. As a conclusion, it was recommended that measurement of hHGF might be effective as an indicator of the preoperative live function or the early postoperative prognosis after hepatectomy, and its postoperative pattern was evaluable as a parameter for liver dysfunction.

Key words
human hepatocyte growth factor, arterial ketone body ratio, early surgical prognosis of the hepatocellular carcinoma, damaged cultured hepatocytes

Reprint requests
Shinji Osada Second Department of Surgery, Gifu University School of Medicine
40 Tsukasamachi, Gifu, 500 JAPAN

Accepted
June 14, 1993

To read the PDF file you will need Abobe Reader installed on your computer.