title: Hepatorenal syndrome: Current concepts related to diagnosis and management.
abstract: Renal failure in cirrhotic patients is a very severe condition. Hepatorenal syndrome has the worst prognosis among all causes of kidney failure in such patients. Hepatorenal syndrome is diagnosed especially in cirrhotic patients with ascites who develop loss renal function, despite diuretic suspension and volume expansion with albumin and for whom other causes of kidney injury have been excluded. Patients with hepatorenal syndrome should be treated with a vasoconstrictor in combination with albumin as a bridge to receiving a liver transplant. The vasoconstrictor of choice is terlipressin or noradrenaline. In spite of higher drug-related costs associated to terlipressin, initial evidence demonstrates that, considering all direct medical costs involved, the treatment strategy using terlipressin is probably more economical than that using noradrenaline.
authors.affiliation: Post-Graduation Course of Hepatology of Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, Brazil; Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre Hospital, Brazil; Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ángelo Zambam
authors.initials: ÁZ
authors.lastname: de Mattos
authors.affiliation: Post-Graduation Course of Hepatology of Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, Brazil; Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre Hospital, Brazil.
authors.forename: Angelo Alves
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: de Mattos
authors.affiliation: Liver Research Unit, Medica Sur Clinic & Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Nahum
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Méndez-Sánchez
mesh_terms: D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D000418:Albumins / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001201:Ascites / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D006530:Hepatorenal Syndrome / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000150:complications; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008236:Lypressin / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000077585:Terlipressin; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents; D008236:Lypressin; D000077585:Terlipressin; D009638:Norepinephrine