Liver linked to deadly disease.

• Position: Hypertension

Mechanisms causing a potentially deadly type of hypertension that results from liver damage have been identified by Don Rockey, a physician at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. Portal hypertension affects the blood flow into the portal vein, which feeds blood to the liver.

Rockey identified the cellular activity that results in portal hypertension. He and his colleagues then took the research a step further, showing that, if the process can be interrupted, the hypertension subsides. "Portal hypertension is a deadly disease that complicates many forms of chronic liver injury," he explains. "When this occurs, in its most severe form, the prognosis definitely becomes guarded," often leading to the need for a liver transplant.

The short-term mortality for patients with portal hypertension is about 30%. The latest research opens new ground and has implications for possible clinical approaches. "The end result of portal hypertension is bleeding and development of ascites [fluid in the abdomen]; so, if you could treat it early, you could prevent bleeding or the formation of ascites," Rockey observes.

Portal...