Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the final stage of portal hypertension in chronic liver disease and the sixth most common neoplasm in the world. Hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) measurement is the best available method to evaluate the presence and severity of portal hypertension. Clinically significant portal hypertension is defined as an increase in HVPG to >10 mmHg. In this condition, the complications of portal hypertension might begin to appear. HVPG measurement is increasingly used in the clinical fields, and the HVPG is a robust surrogate marker in many clinical applications such as diagnosis of fibrosis, risk stratification, identification of patients with HCC who are candidates for liver resection, monitoring of the efficacy of medical treatment, and assessment of progression of portal hypertension. In addition, HVPG may be a useful predictive factor for the development of HCC and HVPG ≥12 mmHg may be suggested a predictor of survival in cirrhotic patients with earlystage HCC. However, in the field of HCC, few data are available about the role of HVPG. In this review, we are going to introduce HVPG and overview its usefulness in the prediction of HCC. (J Liver Cancer 2014;14:73-79)

• Keywords: Hepatocellular Carcinoma;Portal pressure;Liver diseases;Hypertension, portal