Prognostic significance of portal hemodynamics in patients with compensated cirrhosis.

The prognostic value of portal hemodynamics, measured by pulsed echo-Doppler, was prospectively evaluated, together with clinical, biochemical and endoscopic parameters, in a series of 50 consecutive patients with compensated cirrhosis. After a mean follow-up of 6 years, 25 patients had died, all from complications of liver disease. Among conventional variables, the step-wise Cox model showed that only the Child-Pugh score independently predicted death (chi 2 = 18.66; p < 0.001). When hemodynamic parameters were added to the Child-Pugh score in the same model, portal blood velocity was shown to add prognostic significance (improvement in chi 2 = 14.06; p = 0.0002; Wald test). The present study shows that a portal blood velocity below the lower limit of controls (10 cm/s) characterizes patients with shorter survival, and suggests that this non-invasive parameter should be associated to the Child-Pugh score in the evaluation of patients with cirrhosis.