Evaluation Of The Portal Pressure By Doppler Ultrasound In Cirrhotic Patients Before And After Simvastatin

Status

Completed

Phases

Phase 4

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02994485

Enrollment

Registered

2016-12-15

Start date

2016-10-31

Completion date

2018-02-28

Last updated

2018-03-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Portal Hypertension

Brief summary

Portal hypertension is not a disease in itself. Rather, it is an indication of an illness, caused mostly by chronic lesions of the liver because of distinct causes, such as viral infection, chronic alcoholism, or metabolic disorders. Other reasons include splanchnic vascular diseases (for example, obstruction of the portal or the hepatic veins). Portal hypertension is defined as a pressure in the portal vein exceeding the vena cava pressure by more than 5 mm Hg.

Detailed description

Indeed, use of simvastatin might attenuate liver fibrosis in patients with chronic C infection, it may also reduce hepatic vascular resistance and portal pressure by improving liver generation of nitric oxide and hepatic endothelial dysfunction in patients with cirrhosis, so it could be an effective therapy for portal hypertension. It might even improve survival of patients with cirrhosis after variceal bleeding.

Interventions

DRUGSimvastatin

Simvastatin 20 mg/day for two weeks (increased to 40 mg/day at day 15) for another two weeks plus the routine treatment

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* Positive diagnosis of cirrhosis by US (coarse echogenic pattern, bulky caudate lobe, attenuated hepatic veins) * Clinical manifestations of portal hypertension (as esophageal varices ,splenomegaly, ascites and encephalopathy grade I-II)

Exclusion criteria

* Pregnancy * Hepatic encephalopathy grade III-IV * Hepatocellular carcinoma * Treatment with statins in the previous 3 months * Hypersensitivity to statins * Previous surgical shunt or TIPS * Treatment with calcium channel blockers

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Number of Patients with Reduced Portal Pressure After Intervention	6 Months	the number of Patients with Reduced Portal Pressure After Intervention

Countries

Egypt

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 7, 2026