Role of endoscopic treatment or balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration in patients with Child-Pugh class C end-stage liver cirrhosis and esophageal/gastric varices

Treatment of direct oral anticoagulants in patients with liver cirrhosis and portal vein thrombosis

Although patients with cirrhosis are known to be in a state of “rebalance” in that pro- and anticoagulant factors increase the risk for both bleeding and thrombosis, the prevalence of portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in patients with cirrhosis can be up to 26%. Therefore, physicians should consider anticoagulation for the prevention and management of PVT in patients with cirrhosis who are at high risk of PVT. Vitamin K antagonist or low molecular weight heparin is suggested as the standard treatment for PVT in cirrhosis. With the advent of new direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs), there is a paradigm shift of switching to DOACs for the treatment of PVT in patients with cirrhosis. However, the safety and efficacy of DOACs in the treatment of PVT was not well-known in patients with cirrhosis. Therefore, this review focused on the current knowledge about the efficacy, safety concerns, and hepatic metabolism of DOACs in patients with cirrhosis and PVT.

Treatment Outcomes and Prognostic Factors of Acute Variceal Bleeding in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Background/Aims

The treatment outcomes and prognostic markers of acute variceal bleeding (AVB) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients remain unclear. Therefore, we evaluated the clinical outcomes and prognostic factors of AVB in HCC patients.

Methods

Cirrhotic patients with endoscopically confirmed AVB between 2007 and 2013 were enrolled in this prospective study. Prognostic factors were identified by multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analysis.

Results

Among the 329 enrolled patients, 125 patients (38.0%) were diagnosed with HCC. The 6-week mortality rates of all enrolled AVB patients and the HCC subgroup were 14.9% and 26.4%. The 5-day treatment failure, 6-week mortality, cirrhosis-related complications, and duration of hospitalization were greater in HCC patients than in non-HCC patients (all p<0.05). In the HCC subgroup, the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score (hazard ratio [HR], 1.145; p=0.001) and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage (C-D vs 0-B) (HR, 3.096; p=0.019) were independent predictors of 6-week mortality. Our study revealed that 85% of HCC patients with both a MELD score ≥15.5 and BCLC stage C-D died within 6 weeks, and the 6-week mortality risk was 21-fold higher in this group than in the group with a lower MELD score and earlier HCC stage (p<0.001).

Conclusions

The 5-day treatment failure and 6-week mortality rates were significantly higher among AVB patients with HCC than those without HCC. The MELD score and the presence and stage of HCC are strong predictors of 6-week mortality in patients with AVB.