The mesenteric and systemic vasodilatation that occurs in advanced liver disease leads to the development of a hyperdynamic circulatory state¹ which in turn underlies many of the complications of cirrhosis.² Studies of isolated vessel preparations from cirrhotic animal models have led to the concept that vasodilatation is linked to an intrinsic vascular hyporesponsiveness to endogenous vasoconstrictors such as noradrenaline,³ but whether the same holds true of human blood vessels in cirrhosis has not been established.

In order to study the responses of isolated human splanchnic vessels, we obtained 21 omental arteries from 10 patients undergoing orthotopic liver transplantation for advanced cirrhosis. Fifteen control arteries were obtained from six patients at the …