Portal vein thrombosis: diagnosis, management, and endpoints for future clinical studies.

Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) refers to the development of a non-malignant obstruction of the portal vein, its branches, its radicles, or a combination. This Review first provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of PVT, namely the specifics of the portal venous system, the risk factors for PVT, the pathophysiology of portal hypertension in PVT, the interest in non-invasive tests, as well as therapeutic approaches including the effect of treating risk factors for PVT or cause of cirrhosis, anticoagulation, portal vein recanalisation by interventional radiology, and prevention and management of variceal bleeding in patients with PVT. Specific issues are also addressed including portal cholangiopathy, mesenteric ischaemia and intestinal necrosis, quality of life, fertility, contraception and pregnancy, and PVT in children. This Review will then present endpoints for future clinical studies in PVT, both in patients with and without cirrhosis, agreed by a large panel of experts through a Delphi consensus process. These endpoints include classification of portal vein thrombus extension, classification of PVT evolution, timing of assessment of PVT, and global endpoints for studies on PVT including clinical outcomes. These endpoints will help homogenise studies on PVT and thus facilitate reporting, comparison between studies, and validation of future studies and trials on PVT.
Competing Interests: Declaration of interests VHG has received speaker fees from Gore Medical and Cook Medical. ADG has received consulting fees from Astrazeneca and Swedish Orphan Biovitrum. MR serves as consultant from Quantum Surgical (fees paid to institution) and has received speaker fees from Servier, Guerbet, GE Healthcare, Ipsen, Angiodynamics, and AstraZeneca. FN has received speaker fees from Advanz and Permanyer. VML serves as consultant from AstraZaneca and has received speaker fees and travel support from Albireo Ipsen. AB serves as consultant for Boehringer Ingelheim and has received speaker fees from GE Healthcare and Hologic. AA has served as a lecturer for Boehringer-Ingelheim and Gore Medical. AN has received research funding from MSD-Avenir and consulting fees from Abbvie and Janssen. MM serves as a lecturer for AbbVie, Ipsen, Echosens, Gilead Sciences, and Gore Medical, and has received travel support from AbbVie and Gilead Sciences. DP has served as lecturer for Boehringer-Ingelheim and Gore Medical. DT has received research grants from Boehringer-Ingelheim and Novartis and has served as lecturer for Gore Medical. JCGP has received speaker fees from Gore Medical and research grants from Mallinkrodt and AstraZeneca. All other authors declare no competing interests.
(Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)