Every year in
western countries millions of people are diagnosed with portal hypertension
(PHT) which rapidly complicates hepatic cirrhosis and causes esophageal
varices, ascites and encephalopathy.
This determines higher
risk of morbidity and mortality and contributes
to elevate costs for the Health Care System. PHT is defined as the elevation of
the portal vein pressure gradient over 5-10 mmHg.
Common causes
are: Pre-hepatic such as portal vein thrombosis or congenital atresia;
intra-hepatic as liver cirrhosis, hepatic fibrosis and less commonly
non-cirrhotic causes such as schistosomiasis, massive fatty change and
granulomatous diseases; post-hepatic including obstruction that occurs at any
level between liver and right heart (i.e., Budd Chiari syndrome and
veno-occlusive disease VOD).
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