Portal vein thrombosis: Prevalence, patient characteristics and lifetime risk: A population study based on 23 796 consecutive autopsies

Table 1 Prevalence in patients with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) of conditions known to be major causes: Age- and gender distribution within categories

Patient category	n (%) ofPVT patients	n (%) withinrisk category	Age (yr)Median	Mean (95% CI)	Femalegender (%)
Cirrhosis 1	72 (28)		70	68.5 (65.8 - 71.3)	28 (39)
with primary hepatic cancer		26 (36)
without primary hepatic cancer		46 (64)
Primary hepatobiliary cancer 1	59 (23)		72	72.1 (69.4 - 74.8)	26 (44)
hepatic carcinoma 2		38 (64)
extrahepatic biliary/gall bladder carcinoma		21 (36)
Secondary malignancy of the hepatobiliary region 1	111 (44)		70	69.0 (66.7 - 71.2)	59 (52)
from pancreatic carcinoma		47 (42)
gastric carcinoma		20 (18)
colorectal carcinoma		11 (10)
lung cancer		7 (6)
malignant lymphoma		5 (4)
mammary adenocarcinoma		4 (4)
other primary cancer 3		17 (15)1
Myeloproliferative disorders 1	7 (3)		72	65.4 (44.2 - 86.6)	5 (71)
Major abdominal infection / inflammation 14	25 (10)		73	71.9 (66.5 - 77.3)	15 (60)
No cause identified	36 (14)		73	70.8 (65.9 - 75.7)	21 (57)
All patients with PVT	254 (100)		72	69.9 (68.3 - 71.4)	129 (51)

¹ categories not mutually exclusive.

² hepatocellular carcinoma (26), intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (6), mixed (4), anaplastic (1) and unspecified (1) carcinoma.

³ malignant melanoma (3), female genital tract cancer (3), uroepithelial cancer (2), urinary bladder carcinoma (2), prostatic carcinoma (2), oesophageal cancer (1), duodenal cancer (1), renal cancer (1), adrenal cancer (1), sarcoma (1).

⁴ liver abscess (13), peritonitis (8), acute necrotising pancreatitis (4), abdominal abscess (2), ulcerative colitis (1) (more than one alternative possible).

Table 2 Prevalence and relative risk (odds ratio) of PVT in relation to disease condition with major risk of PVT

Patient category	n (%)	PVT (%)	O.R. (95% C.I.)1		O.R. (95% C.I.)
				P value		P value
Cirrhosis	1193 (5.0)	72 (6.0)	7.9 (6.0 - 10.5)	< 0.001
with primary hepatic cancer	182	26 (14.3)	17.1 (11.1 - 26.4)	< 0.001	3.5 (2.1 - 5.8)	< 0.001
without primary hepatic cancer	1011	46 (4.5)	5.2 (3.7 - 7.2)	< 0.001	12
Primary hepatobiliary cancer	698 (2.9)	59 (8.5)	10.8 (8.0 - 14.7)	< 0.001
hepatic carcinoma	392	38 (9.7)	11.5 (8.0 - 16.5)	< 0.001
with cirrhosis	182	26 (14.3)	17.1 (11.1 - 26.4)	< 0.001	2.8 (1.3 - 5.6)	0.004
without cirrhosis	210	12 (5.7)	5.8 (3.2 - 10.6)	< 0.001	12
extrahepatic biliary / gall bladder carcinoma	313	21 (6.7)	7.2 (4.5 - 11.4)	< 0.001
Secondary hepatic malignancy
from all tumours	3446 (14.5)	113 (3.3)	4.9 (3.8 - 6.2)	< 0.001
from pancreatic carcinoma	312	36 (11.5)	13.9 (9.6 - 20.2)	< 0.001	5.2 (3.4 - 7.8) 3	< 0.001 3
gastric carcinoma	316	18 (5.7)	5.9 (3.6 - 9.7)	< 0.001	1.9 (1.2 - 3.2) 3	0.019 3
colorectal carcinoma	637	13 (2.0)	2.0 (1.1 - 3.5)	0.028	0.5 (0.3 - 1.0) 3	0.063 3
Myeloproliferative disorders	231 (1.0)	7 (3.0)	3.0 (1.4 - 6.3)	0.012
All patients	23796 (100)	254 (1.0)

¹vs. all patients with absence of respective condition.

² reference category.

³vs. patients with liver metastatic disease from other cancer forms.

Table 3 Portal hypertension-related complications in categories of PVT based on likely etiology

Patient category	n	n	Complication
			Ascites		Oesophageal varices		Gastrointestinal bleeding
			n (%)	P value 2	n (%)	P value 2	n (%)	P value 2
Cirrhosis 1	72		45 (62)	<0.001	42 (58)	<0.001	34 (47)	<0.001
with primary hepatic cancer		26	21 (81)		13 (50)		7 (27)
without primary hepatic cancer		46	24 (52)		29 (63)		27 (59)
Primary hepatobiliary cancer 1	59		34 (58)	0.016	15 (25)	0.18	15 (25)	0.72
without cirrhosis		33	13 (39)		2 (6)		8 (24)
Secondary hepatobiliary malignancy 1	111		46 (41)	0.61	4 (4)	<0.001	15 (14)	0.002
Myeloproliferative disorders 1	7		4 (57)	0.47	2 (29)	0.62	2 (29)	0.67
Major abdominal infection / inflammation 1	25		12 (48)	0.67	1 (4)	0.06	5 (20)	0.81
No cause identified	36		6 (17)	<0.001	2 (6)	0.036	3 (8)	0.02
All patients with PVT	254		110 (43)		48 (19)		59 (25)

¹ Categories not mutually exclusive; 2 in comparison with all PVT patients not belonging to category.