Influence of History of Alcohol Ingestion on AST and ALT Following Enflurane Anesthesia in Gastrectomy Patients

Yi, Keun Yeong; Kim, Doo Sik; Park, Se Hun; Ryu, Sie Jeong; Jang, Tae Ho; Kim, Se Hwan; Kim, Kyung Han

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There are many factors including the operation site, duration of anesthesia, preoperative liver function and hepatitis, which cause postoperative hepatic dysfunction. The purpose of this study is to evaluate postoperative liver function with respect to a history of alcohol intake.
METHODS
Seventy-five patients were divided into 2 groups:44 patients without alcohol intake (non-alcohol group), 31 patients with alcohol intake (alcohol group). All patients were anesthetized with about 1.5 vol% of enflurane combined with 50% nitrous oxide and 50% oxygen. AST (aspartate aminotransferase) and ALT (alanine aminotransferase) were measured before anesthesia, 1, 3 and 7 days after surgery in both groups, respectively. Postoperative AST and ALT values were compared to preoperative values within each group, and were also compared between groups.
RESULTS
In the alcohol group, postoperative AST and ALT values were significantly higher than preoperative values (P < 0.05). In addition, postoperative ALT values significantly increased in the 1st and 7th day over the upper normal limit of ALT (P < 0.05). In the non-alcohol group, postoperative AST and ALT values increased over preoperative values, but those levels were within the normal limits of AST and ALT.
CONCLUSIONS
The data suggest that when surgery can reduce hepatic blood flow, patients with a history of alcohol ingestion may have a risk of raised liver-derived enzyme in the first seven postoperative days.