Elmoghazy, M., El Shabrawi, A., Mousa, N. (2019). Portal Hypertension, an Overview. Medical Journal of Viral Hepatitis, 4.1(1), 15-21. doi: 10.21608/mjvh.2019.59522
Mohammad Elmoghazy; Ahmed El Shabrawi; Nasser Mousa. "Portal Hypertension, an Overview". Medical Journal of Viral Hepatitis, 4.1, 1, 2019, 15-21. doi: 10.21608/mjvh.2019.59522
Elmoghazy, M., El Shabrawi, A., Mousa, N. (2019). 'Portal Hypertension, an Overview', Medical Journal of Viral Hepatitis, 4.1(1), pp. 15-21. doi: 10.21608/mjvh.2019.59522
Elmoghazy, M., El Shabrawi, A., Mousa, N. Portal Hypertension, an Overview. Medical Journal of Viral Hepatitis, 2019; 4.1(1): 15-21. doi: 10.21608/mjvh.2019.59522
1Gastroetetrology and Hepatology dept., Damietta Cardiology and Gastroenterology center, Egypt
2tropical Medicine dept., Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura Univ., Egypt
3Tropical Medicine dept, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura Univ., Egypt.
Abstract
Portal hypertension (PP) is the chief consequence of cirrhosis and is responsible for the majority of its complications. In seventy percentage of cases, PP increases at first as a result of an increased intrahepatic resistance to portal flow attributed to structural mechanisms e.g., fibrous tissue, regenerative nodules, and micro thrombi. Yet, at least one third of the increased intrahepatic resistance is attributed to an increased intrahepatic vascular tone, which, results from endothelial dysfunction mostly mediated from reduced nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability. The onset of portal hypertension may not always be associated with specific symptoms, however, the main symptoms and complications of portal hypertension include; gastrointestinal bleeding due to the spontaneous rupture and bleeding from varices, ascites, hepatic encephalopathy and decreased levels of platelets or decreased white blood cell count. It is currently possible to diagnose liver cirrhosis and portal hypertension accurately by non-invasive methods in a reasonable proportion of patients with chronic liver disease. Recent, more complicated non-invasive diagnostic methods such as MRE, CT images and dynamic techniques on MRI are emerging tools further improving this possibility.