Echocardiography Screening of Consecutive Patients With Portal Hypertension Referred to Mayo Clinic for Liver...

To determine the prevalence of portopulmonary hypertension in patients referred for liver transplant evaluation.

Medical records were reviewed for 986 consecutive patients referred for liver transplant evaluation who were screened for pulmonary hypertension with echocardiography from February 1, 2021, to January 31, 2022, across 3 liver transplant centers.

Of 934 patients eligible for analysis, mean (SD) age was 57 (11) years, 558 (59.7%) were men, and 859 (92.0%) were White. Alcoholic cirrhosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis represented 640 (68.5%) of the liver diseases. Right ventricular systolic pressure estimated by echocardiography was 35 mm Hg or greater in 147 (15.7%) and less than 35 mm Hg in 475 (50.9%; unable to estimate in 312 [33.4%]). Right-sided heart catheterization was performed in 42 (4.5%) patients; hemodynamic profiles revealed that 12 (28.6%) did not have pulmonary hypertension, 15 (35.7%) had postcapillary venous pulmonary hypertension, 7 (16.7%) had portopulmonary hypertension, 6 (14.3%) had unclassifiable pulmonary hypertension, and 2 (4.8%) had combined pre- and postcapillary pulmonary hypertension.

The percentage of portopulmonary hypertension in patients referred for liver transplant was considerably lower, 7 of 934 (0.7%), than in previous studies, but the reason was unclear.