Renal function after dopamine and fluid administration in patients with malignant obstructive jaundice. A prospective randomized study.

Background and Aims: Acute renal failure is a relevant complication in obstructive jaundice (OJ). The extracellular water volume (ECW) depletion and myocardial dysfunction affects haemodynamic and renal disturbance in patients with OJ. Methods: A prospective open randomised study was conducted to evaluate the effect of peridrainage saline infusion associated with dopamine administration on hormonal and renal function derangements in 102 patients with malignant OJ. Patients were randomly distributed according to whether (n=64) or not (n=38) received dopamine with saline solution before endoscopic biliary drainage. Furthermore, patients receiving dopamine were randomly distributed whether (n=31) or not (n=33) received additional dopamine administration during the postdrainage phase. Different parameters such as ECW, serum levels of aldosterone, renin, atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), antidiuretic hormone (ADH), endothelin-1 (ET-1), urine PGE2 and creatinine clearance (CrCl) were analyzed. Results: Fluid administration was accompanied by an increase in the ECW (p=0.01) and an improvement in the CrCl (p=0.01). Dopamine increased CrCl by 11% (p=0.04) and reduced urinary PGE2 concentration (p=0.02). After drainage, a transient worsening of CrCl was seen in patients on i.v. fluid infusion alone but not in dopamine groups (p=0.001). Improvement of CrCl after dopamine administration was found in patients with serum bilirubin > 16 mg/dl and sodium urine excretion <145 mEq/l. Conclusions: The administration of dopamine associated with appropriate i.v. fluid infusion in the peridrainage period has an impact on renal function only in selected patients with malignant biliary obstruction. This effect is more relevant in patients with higher marked cholestasis.