Some patients who undergo heart surgery will later experience shock and kidney complications. Researchers at Charité– Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch in Germany and the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, Australia found that genetic differences can help determine the people more susceptible to this.
The enzyme catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is involved in metabolizing norepinephrine (noradrenalin), a drug that is given to patients post-surgery to stimulate their blood flow and to normalize their blood pressure. Hence, researchers studied the gene that encodes COMT enzymes, in 260 patients, and found that a genetic variant "LL" may be responsible for the shock and kidney complications.
This genetic variant lowers the activity of the COMT enzyme, meaning patients with this variant are more likely to experience these aftereffects. This means that noradrenalin is less effective with these patients, leading researchers to suggest that vasopressin may be more suitable.
References:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090430172944.htm
Anja Haase-Fielitz et al. Decreased Catecholamine Degradation Associates with Shock and Kidney Injury after Cardiac Surgery. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, DOI: 10.1681/ASN.2008080915
