Management of complications of cirrhosis in patients awaiting liver transplantation

As the demand for OLT increases, patients with advanced cirrhosis will end up spending a longer time waiting in the list with an increased risk of developing further decompensation and dying. Only the expansion of the donor pool will have a major impact on the survival of patients; however, this seems to be extremely challenging given that use of marginal donors and living related liver transplantation has not made a significant impact on waiting times. Therefore, both prevention and effective treatment of complications such as ascites, dilutional hyponatremia, hepatorenal syndrome, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, hepatic encephalopathy and variceal bleeding may improve the likelihood of a patient surviving until OLT. © 2004 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.