Treatment of refractory ascites: Current strategies and new landscape of non-selective beta-blockers

Abstract

Ascites is the fluid accumulation in the peritoneal cavity, and it is the consequence of a wide variety of entities, being liver cirrhosis the most common one. In this kind of patients, the development of ascites results from splanchnic vasodilation; decreased effective circulating volume; the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system; and a systemic inflammatory process. Its management is diverse and depends on the severity of the hemodynamic disturbance and other clinical manifestations. In recent years, therapeutic strategies have been developed, but they tend to result unconventional, so new evidence demonstrates the advantages of non-selective beta-blockers for the survival rate of patients with end-stage cirrhosis and ascites.

Keywords: Ascitis refractaria; Beta-blockers; Betabloqueadores; Cirrosis hepática; Hipertensión portal; Liver cirrhosis; Portal hypertension; Refractory ascites.