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The deviation of portal blood flow to the systemic circulation, avoiding the passage through the liver through the porto-systemic deviations, is followed by development of a hyperdynamic circulation, characterized by hypotension, decreased peripheral vascular resistance, increased blood flow to the splanchnic and systemic territories, as well as reduced sensitivity to exogenous administration of vasoconstrictors. These hemodynamic abnormalities are associated with chronic portal hypertension and its subclinical complications such as alteration in the metabolism of drugs and endogenous substances, ascites, arterial hypoxia, hypersplenism, variceal bleeding and portal hypertensive gastropathy that is the subject of this study. This way, the objectives this review is to better characterize the abnormalities in the hyperdynamic circulaton wich contributes to development of portal hypertensive gastropathy.

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Câmara PRS is graduate in Pharmacy at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (2000). She got her Master in Molecular and Functional Biology(Biochemistry area) at Universidade Estadual deCampinas (2002) and Ph.D. in Medical Sciences at Universidade Estadual de Campinas (2005).

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