Perioperative Care of HVPG Measurement (CHESS1904): An International Multicenter Survey

Portal hypertension is an important factor affecting the clinical outcomes of cirrhosis patients, and its severity determines the occurrence of development of cirrhosis complications, such as rupture and bleeding of gastroesophageal varices, ascites, and hepatorenal syndrome. The direct measurement of portal pressure is an extremely invasive and high-risk procedure. In addition, changes in intra-abdominal pressure will affect the portal pressure, which leads to unreliable results. The hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) is the difference between wedged hepatic venous pressure and free hepatic venous pressure and reflects the pressure difference between the hepatic portal vein and the intra-abdominal veins. In recent years, the status of HVPG in clinical application of cirrhotic portal hypertension has gradually improved. In 2016, the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) issued a consensus on risk stratification, diagnosis, and management of portal hypertensive bleeding in cirrhosis and re-emphasized the value of HVPG in assessing the cirrhosis staging, occurrence of complications and treatment goals. However, HVPG is an invasive test and requires technical skills of the operator and specialized instruments. HVPG measurement and anesthesia can cause stress responses in the body, which in turn lead to inflammatory response and immune function suppression. Thus, the perioperative care for patients undergoing HVPG measurement is crucial. This research trial studies comprehensive patient and medical worker questionnaires in predicting complications in patients with cirrhosis undergoing HVPG measurement. Comprehensive patient and medical worker questionnaires may help identify complications, such as the need for assistance in taking medication, decreased mobility and released tension that may improve outcomes.

Inclusion criteria

Eligible participants must meet the following criteria:

• aged between 18-75 years, no restriction on gender;
• clinically and/or pathologically diagnosed sinusoidal cirrhosis;
• with written informed consent
• scheduled to undergo HVPG measurement according to the following indications: 1) assessment of the efficacy of primary and secondary prophylactic drugs for gastroesophageal variceal bleeding; 2) predicting the risk of gastroesophageal variceal bleeding and guiding the selection of the treatment regimens; 3) predicting of risk, progression, and clinical outcomes of decompensation events in cirrhosis; 4) evaluation of the efficacy of new drugs; 5) evaluation of the accuracy of new non-invasive techniques; diagnosis and differential diagnosis of types of portal hypertension.

Exclusion criteria

Those cases that meet any of the following criteria should be excluded:

• contradictions for HVPG measurement;
• pregnant or lactating woman;
• severe coagulopathy (international normalized ratio>5);
• severe heart, lung, or kidney disease.