Portal Vein Thrombosis in Cirrhosis: Incidence, Outcomes and Anticoagulation

Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is a blood-clot complication that occurs in some people with liver cirrhosis and can worsen bleeding, ascites, encephalopathy and survival. However, doctors still lack reliable tools to predict who will develop PVT, how much it really shortens life, and whether anticoagulation (blood-thinner) treatment clearly improves outcomes and is safe.This multicentre, bidirectional cohort study will follow about 2,500 adults with cirrhosis cared for at seven major hospitals in China. The team will first review 1,682 historical cases recorded since 2010 and then prospectively enrol another 840 patients from June 2025 onward. Participants may or may not already have PVT when they enter the study. All will undergo routine blood tests and abdominal imaging, and will be followed at roughly 6 months, 1 year and 2 years after discharge, through clinic visits, hospital records or telephone calls.

The study has three goals :

1. Identify risk factors for new PVT and build an easy-to-use prediction model. 2. Clarify the impact of PVT on prognosis, especially all-cause death and decompensation of cirrhosis. 3. Evaluate real-world anticoagulation: patients who receive blood-thinners will be compared with those who do not, looking at survival, clot progression or resolution, and major bleeding events.

Because no experimental drug or random assignment is involved, participation does not change a patient's routine care. All personal information will be de-identified and protected according to Chinese data-security laws. Results from this study are expected to help doctors recognise high-risk patients earlier and choose safer, more effective anticoagulation strategies to improve quality of life and survival in cirrhosis.