Minireviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Dec 18, 2015; 7(29): 2906-2912
Published online Dec 18, 2015. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i29.2906
Therapeutic and clinical aspects of portal vein thrombosis in patients with cirrhosis
Massimo Primignani, Giulia Tosetti, Vincenzo La Mura
Massimo Primignani, Giulia Tosetti, U.O. Gastroenterologia ed Epatologia, IRCCS-Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, 20122 Milano, Italy
Vincenzo La Mura, U.O. Medicina Interna, IRCCS-San Donato, Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche per la Salute, Università degli studi di Milano, 20097 Milan, Italy
Author contributions: Primignani M contributed to review concept and design; all authors contributed to drafting of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Massimo Primignani, MD, PhD, U.O. Gastroenterologia ed Epatologia, IRCCS-Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, via F. Sforza 35, 20122 Milano, Italy. massimo.primignani@policlinico.mi.it
Telephone: +39-02-55035432 Fax: +39-02-50320410
Received: July 3, 2015
Peer-review started: July 9, 2015
First decision: August 25, 2015
Revised: November 8, 2015
Accepted: December 1, 2015
Article in press: December 2, 2015
Published online: December 18, 2015
Core Tip

Core tip: Impaired liver synthesis of both pro- and anticoagulants maintains a haemostatic balance in advanced liver disease, but this balance is more unstable than in healthy subjects and can be easily tipped towards thrombosis or bleeding. Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) frequently occurs in advanced stages of cirrhosis and, if occlusive or extensive, may complicate or impede liver transplant. Therefore, prevention and treatment of PVT are frequent issues in cirrhosis patients, particularly in those eligible to liver transplant. Current treatments are with low molecular weight heparin or vitamin K antagonists and should be continued until transplantation in liver candidates, whereas no consensus exists regarding the duration of anticoagulation in non-transplant candidates.