Safety, efficacy and prognosis of anticoagulant therapy for portal vein thrombosis in cirrhosis: a retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: The role of anticoagulants in the treatment of cirrhotic PVT remains controversial. This study aimed to analyze the safety and efficacy of anticoagulant therapy in patients with cirrhotic portal vein thrombosis (PVT) and its impact on prognosis. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted for PVT patients with liver cirrhosis in our hospital. The primary outcome of the study was the PVT recanalization rate. Other outcomes included bleeding rate, liver function, and mortality. Cox and Logistic regression were used to explore the risk factors of outcomes. RESULTS: This study included 77 patients that 27 patients in the anticoagulant group and 50 in the non-anticoagulant group. Anticoagulant therapy was associated with higher rate of PVT recanalization (44.4% vs 20.0%, log-rank P = 0.016) and lower rate of PVT progression (7.4% vs 30.0%, log-rank P = 0.026), and without increasing the rate of total bleeding (14.8% vs 24%, P = 0.343), major bleeding (3.7% vs 6%, P = 0.665) and variceal bleeding (3.7% vs 16%, P = 0.109). The safety and efficacy of different anticoagulants were similar. The Child-Pugh grade of the anticoagulant therapy group was better than that of the non-anticoagulant therapy group (P = 0.030). There was no significant difference in the 2-year survival rate of the two groups. CONCLUSION: Anticoagulants could increase the PVT recanalization rate and reduce the PVT progression rate without increasing the rate of bleeding. Anticoagulants may be beneficial to improving the liver function of patients with cirrhotic PVT. There was no significant difference in the safety and efficacy of different anticoagulants in the treatment of cirrhotic PVT.