title: Hepatic venous pressure gradient measurement in clinical hepatology.
abstract: Portal hypertension is key to the natural history of cirrhosis and the standard way to assess it is the hepatic venous pressure gradient. Hepatic venous pressure gradient is a strong predictor of variceal bleeding/survival and is the only suitable tool to assess the response of portal hypertension to medical treatment. The clinical applications, indications and timing for hepatic venous pressure gradient measurement, together with measurement principles and costs, are reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Hepatic Haemodynamics Laboratory and Clinica Medica 5, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Padua, and Regional Centre for Hepatology, Padua, Italy. carlo.merkel@unipd.it
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Merkel
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Montagnese
mesh_terms: D001795:Blood Pressure Determination / Q000191:economics; D006503:Hepatic Veins / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D006975:Hypertension, Portal / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic