Noncirrhotic portal hypertension (NCPH) is a rare but important clinical entity in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) populations. The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical factors associated with the condition in an effort to formulate a diagnostic algorithm for easy and early diagnosis. We performed a multicenter, retrospective case-control study of 34 patients with NCPH and 68 control HIV patients. The study found that thrombocytopenia, splenomegaly, didanosine use, elevated aminotransferases, and an elevated alkaline phosphatase level were all significantly more prevalent in the NCPH cohort. Using these easily available clinical parameters, we developed an algorithm for early diagnosis of NCPH in HIV.
Keywords: HIV; didanosine; esophageal variceal bleeding; liver disease; noncirrhotic portal hypertension; portal hypertension; splenomegaly; thrombocytopenia.