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World J Gastroenterol. Jun 21, 2021; 27(23): 3290-3302
Published online Jun 21, 2021. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v27.i23.3290
Viscoelastic tests in liver disease: where do we stand now?
Alina Buliarca, Adelina Horhat, Tudor Mocan, Rares Craciun, Bogdan Procopet, Zeno Sparchez
Alina Buliarca, Adelina Horhat, Tudor Mocan, Rares Craciun, Bogdan Procopet, Zeno Sparchez, The Third Medical Department, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Institute for Gastroenterology and Hepatology “Prof. Dr. O. Fodor”, Cluj-Napoca 400162, Romania
Author contributions: Buliarca A, Horhat A, Mocan T, Craciun R and Sparchez Z collected the data, analyzed the data; Buliarca A and Procopet B drafted the manuscript; Procopet B revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors have read and approved the final version to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no other disclosures.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Tudor Mocan, MD, Research Scientist, The Third Medical Department, “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Institute for Gastroenterology and Hepatology “Prof. Dr. O. Fodor”, Croitorilor st. 19-21, Cluj-Napoca 400162, Romania. mocan_tudor@yahoo.com
Received: January 28, 2021
Peer-review started: January 28, 2021
First decision: March 14, 2021
Revised: March 17, 2021
Accepted: May 20, 2021
Article in press: May 20, 2021
Published online: June 21, 2021
Core Tip

Core Tip: Despite having specific alterations in all hemostasis phases and, thus, considered naturally anticoagulated, cirrhotic patients have, in fact, balanced hemostasis. However, this balance may be disturbed by different factors, and the result may vary from devastating bleeding to massive thrombosis. Conventional laboratory tests failed to predict these events. Viscoelastic tests appear to offer a better, global view of hemostasis in these patients. They have been used to assess bleeding risk before invasive interventions and for a precocious use of blood product transfusions.