Saves the questions and what to expect into your notes, next to the visit they belong to.
Keep this study
Lead
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
With
Yale University
Age
18–75
Sex
ALL
Healthy volunteers
Not accepted
You may be eligible if
Liver biopsy compatible with cirrhosis.
Absence of gastroesophageal varices.
An increased hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) (6mmHg).
Age over 18 and below 76 years.
Informed, written consent.
You may not be if
Presence of ascites that requires specific treatment (diuretics, paracentesis, peritoneo-venous shunt, etc).
Proven hepatocellular carcinoma by radiological or histological criteria.
Splenic or portal vein thrombosis by Doppler-ultrasound.
Presence of any concurrent disease that is expected to decrease life expectancy to less than one year.
Patients taking diuretics, beta-blockers, clonidine, prazosin, nitrates, molsidomine and any drug which may have an effect on splanchnic hemodynamics/portal pressure.
Patients participating in other pharmacological randomized clinical trials.
Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis will also be excluded since these entities have a slower progression of the disease, are usually enrolled in other clinical trials and are transplanted at an earlier stage.
Contraindications to beta-blockers: asthma, COPD with positive broncoconstrictive test, heart failure, A-V block, aortic valve stenosis, organic psychosis, insulin-dependent diabetes, hypersensitivity to beta-blockers.
Women who are pregnant, nursing or of childbearing potential and who are not using oral or mechanical contraception.
