Episode 2 of the Double Header with the Minnesota Twins! The first article, the SEQUOIA trial, was discussed in the preceding episode with Mckay Carstens... did you guess correctly for which twin was speaking? He's passing the baton to his brother Kane to discuss management of portal hypertension in patients with cirrhosis. We're looking back in time with a retrospective study that investigated whether carvedilol showed more effectiveness compared with classical NSBBs to prevent decompensation in patients with cirrhosis. Stick with us to see if the weight of portal hypertension is lifted in this cohort and explore the role of selection bias in retrospective cohort studies.

Key Points

1. Cirrhosis is a leading cause of liver-related morbidity worldwide and managing complications like portal hypertension is key to improving outcomes
2. Progression to decompensated cirrhosis—marked by ascites, variceal bleeding, or encephalopathy—reduces median survival to approximately 2 years thus highlighting the importance of prevention of decompensating events.
3. Carvedilol has gained attention for its added alpha-1 blockade, offering greater portal pressure reduction—though its long-term benefits and safety compared to traditional NSBBs remain under investigation
4. Get curious about selection bias - can we confidently interpret and apply these trial results? ------> Tune in to find out!

References

1. [EPISODE TRIAL] Fortea JI, Alvarado-Tapias E, Simbrunner B, et al. Carvedilol vs. propranolol for the prevention of decompensation and mortality in patients with compensated and decompensated cirrhosis. Journal of Hepatology 2025; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2024.12.017.

2. Kaplan DE, Ripoll C, Thiele M, et al. AASLD Practice Guidelines on risk stratification and management of portal hypertension and varices in cirrhosis. Hepatology 2024;79:1180-1211.
3. Turco L, Reiberger T, Vitale G, La Mura V. Carvedilol as the new non-selective beta-blocker of choice in patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension. Liver International 2023;43(6):1183-1194.
4. Villanueva C, Torres F, Kumar Sarin S, et al. Carvedilol reduces the risk of decompensation and mortality in patients with compensated cirrhosis in a competing-risk meta-analysis. Journal of Hepatology 2022;77(4):1014-1025.
5. Austin PC, Stuart EA. Moving towards best practice when using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) using the propensity score to estimate causal treatment effects in observational studies. Statistics in Medicine 2015;34(28);3661-3679.

Contact Information

Podcast email: whatsitworthpodcast@gmail.com

Host Information

Dr. Diana R. Langworthy, PharmD, BCPS

Clinical Associate Professor, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy

Clinical Pharmacist - Inpatient Internal Medicine, M Health Fairview East Bank Hospital

Co-Host Information

Kane Carstens, PharmD

PGY1 Resident, University of Minnesota Medical Center East Bank

Mckay Carstens, PharmD

PGY1 Resident, University of Minnesota Medical Center East Bank