Research advances in noninvasive assessment of portal hypertension / 临床肝胆病杂志

ABSTRACT

Patients with decompensated cirrhosis often have varying degrees of portal hypertension, and when portal pressure reaches a certain threshold, various clinical complications may occur and even threaten patients′ lives. Therefore, portal pressure assessment is important for the clinical management and prognosis of such patients. Due to the anatomical characteristics of the portal vein, it is difficult to measure portal pressure directly. At present, hepatic venous pressure gradient is used to replace portal pressure in China and foreign countries. However, the measurement of hepatic venous pressure gradient is an interventional procedure and is difficult to perform in clinical practice. Therefore, noninvasive assessment of portal hypertension has become a research hotspot. This article reviews the research advances in the roles of serum markers, ultrasound elastography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging/magnetic resonance elastography in noninvasive assessment of portal hypertension.