Pathogenesis and therapy of ascites in liver cirrhosis

: This paper reviews pathogenetic factors which contribute to the development of therapy-resistant ascites in liver cirrhosis. Main principles are known as "Overfilling"--and "Underfilling"-hypotheses followed by disturbances of different kinds of mediators influencing renal blood flow and natriuresis. The endpoint of a cascade is the development of a hepatorenal syndrome which is connected with therapeutic resistance against diuretics. Therefore, other therapeutic methods (paracentesis, reinfusion) must be taken in to account in order to improve prognosis of such cases.