Austrian consensus on the diagnosis and management of portal hypertension in advanced chronic liver disease (Billroth IV).

The Billroth IV consensus was developed during a consensus meeting of the Austrian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (ÖGGH) and the Austrian Society of Interventional Radiology (ÖGIR) held on the 26th of November 2022 in Vienna.Based on international recommendations and considering recent landmark studies, the Billroth IV consensus provides guidance regarding the diagnosis and management of portal hypertension in advanced chronic liver disease.

Transmission of oral microbiota to the biliary tract during endoscopic retrograde cholangiography.

Background: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) possesses a translocation risk of microbes to the biliary system. We studied bile contamination during ERC and its impact on patients' outcome in a real-life-situation.

Methods: Ninety-nine ERCs were analyzed and microbial samples were taken from the throat before and from bile during ERC and from irrigation fluid of the duodenoscope before and after ERC.

The impact of COVID-19 on liver transplantation programs in Austria.

Background: Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has affected liver disease management. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Austrian orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) programs, however, has not been systematically investigated.

Methods: All patients listed for OLT in Austria during 2020-2021 were studied.

Response-guided long-term treatment of chronic hepatitis D patients with bulevirtide-results of a "real world" study.

Background And Aim: Bulevirtide (BLV) blocks the uptake of the hepatitis D virus (HDV) into hepatocytes via the sodium/bile acid cotransporter NTCP. BLV was conditionally approved by the EMA but real-life data on BLV efficacy are limited.

Methods: Patients were treated with BLV monotherapy.

Prognostic value of depressed cardiac index after STEMI: a phase-contrast magnetic resonance study.

Aims: An invasively measured cardiac index (CI) of ≤2.2 L/min/m2 is one of the strongest prognostic indicators after ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), however, knowledge is mainly based on invasive evaluations performed in the pre-stent era. Velocity-encoded phase-contrast cardiac magnetic resonance (PC-CMR) allows non-invasive determination of CI.