Study of the serum-ascites albumin gradient and portal hypertensive ascites

Objective:To study the relationship of serum-ascites albumin gradient(SAAG)and the portal hyper-tensive ascites.Methods:Our study included47patients with liver cirrhosis,all patients have portal hypertension.Compare the level of SAAG among three groups of different degree of impairment of liver function determined by the Child-Pugh's score.And compared the level of SAAG among three groups of different grade of esophageal varices.Studied the correlation between the level of SAAG and the portal venous pressure.Results:There was no difference of the level of SAAG among three groups of different degree of impairment of liver function(P0.05).The level of SAAG had correlation with the serum albumin(r=0.478,P=0.001).There was neither relationship between the SAAG and the serum total bilirubin(P0.05),nor the SAAG and the prothrombin time(P0.05).There was no dif-ference of the level of SAAG among three groups of different grade of esophageal varices(P0.05).The level of SAAG had no correlation with the level of portal venous pressure(r=-0.140,P=0.649).Conclusions:The level of SAAG does not reflect the grade of esophageal varices and the level of portal venous pressure.The level of SAAG does not have any relationship with the degree of impairment of liver function.