The Palliative Management of Refractory Cirrhotic Ascites Using the PleurX^© Catheter

Table 1

Patient demographics and baseline clinical characteristics.

Total number of patients	33
Male gender	19 (57.5%)
Mean age	62 (range 44–87)
Etiology of liver cirrhosis
Alcohol	12 (36.4%)
Hepatitis C	7 (21.2%)
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)	7 (21.2%)
Alcohol and hepatitis C	4 (12.1%)
Cardiogenic	3 (9.1%)
ECOG performance status
2	4 (12.1%)
3	21 (63.6%)
4	8 (24.2%)
Renal disease	23 (69.7%)
Cardiovascular disease	8 (24.2%)
Hyponatremia (<135 mmol/L)	20 (60.6%)
Ascitic fluid protein <10	4 (12.1%)
Mean model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score	17 (range 8–31)
Number of patients with MELD ≥ 15	18 (54.5%)
Number of patients with MELD < 15	13 (39.4%)
Child-Pugh class
A	0
B	19 (57.5%)
C	12 (36.4%)

Chronic renal disease was determined to be present if the patient’s eGFR was less than 60 mL/min/1.73 m² on baseline bloodwork.
Cardiovascular disease was determined to be present if the patient reported a history of such or if there was evidence of coronary artery disease, ischemic cardiomyopathy, cerebrovascular disease, or peripheral artery disease on the patient’s online medical record.
MELD and Child-Pugh class could not be reliably calculated for two patients due to their use of warfarin.