Source

Department of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, P.O. Box 35, 123 Muscat, Oman ; Department of Gastroenterology, Royal Victoria Hospital, McGill University Health Center, Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 1A1.

Abstract

The portal hypertension is responsible for many of the manifestations of liver cirrhosis. Some of these complications are the direct consequences of portal hypertension, such as gastrointestinal bleeding from ruptured gastroesophageal varices and from portal hypertensive gastropathy and colopathy, ascites and hepatorenal syndrome, and hypersplenism. In other complications, portal hypertension plays a key role, although it is not the only pathophysiological factor in their development. These include spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, hepatic encephalopathy, cirrhotic cardiomyopathy, hepatopulmonary syndrome, and portopulmonary hypertension.