Background/aims: Hepatectomy is associated with high rates of postoperative liver dysfunction in patients with cirrhosis. Since S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe) can be used to treat liver disease, we performed a prospective clinical trial to investigate whether it could be used after hepatectomy to benefit residual liver function.
Methodology: We studied 79 hepatitis-related chronic patients who underwent resection of hepatocellular carcinoma; 39 patients were randomly assigned to receive postoperative intravenous SAMe treatment, and 40 were randomly assigned to a control group. The postoperative SAMe treatment consisted of SAMe 1,000mg given intravenously for seven days. The other treatment was standardized.
Results: At inclusion into the trial no significant differences were observed between the two groups with respect to gender, age, Child classification, preoperative liver function tests, blood loss, total time of hepatic pedicle occlusion and the extent of liver resection. The overall frequency of postoperative liver insufficiency decreased from 42% in the control group to 31% in the SAMe group, although not statistically significant (p=0.121). When the patients who underwent hepatic pedicle occlusion by Pringle’s maneuver over 15min were analyzed, the frequency of postoperative liver insufficiency (p=0.028), serum total bilirubin levels on days 5 (p=0.025) and 7 (p=0.032) preoperatively, and the maximum value of postoperative serum total bilirubin (p=0.040) were significantly greater in the control than in the SAMe group.
Conclusions: The results indicate that the postoperative SAMe therapy can benefit residual liver function of the patients with cirrhosis, especially in those suffering greater ischemia reperfusion injury.